YuGiOh! GX: The Next Legacy
by Rocket Knight 777
Summary: This season of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX takes place the year after Jaden graduates from Duel Academy. With him gone, you'd thinks would be back to normal right? Wrong. Please R&R.
1. A Normal Day

_A/N: Welcome to my second fic. This was going to be my first one, but when inspiration calls, you just gotta answer. I'll be posting the chapters for this fic when writer's block slows me down on my Shadowchaser fic. For this one there will be no ban list guidelines. My personal belief is that the ban list inhibits the game by taking away the big hitters, broken though they may be, and taking away the fun of trying to best the big hitters, like taking out CED-EE before it can use its effect, but that's just my thing, I mean the ban list does add an extra challenge by having to make you create an alternate way of achieving the same thing you could have with the banned cards. I'm ranting aren't I? I'll just let you read the story of what happened after Jaden left Duel Academy._

Copyright: I do not own the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG, or any of the characters from any of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Cartoon shows. All I own, unless stated otherwise, are any characters and custom cards that I create and that appear at any time throughout this story.

**Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: The Next Legacy**

**ARC: Welcome to Duel Academy**

We all know the story of Duel Academy, the prestigious school, owned by Seto Kaiba, designed to create the next generation of top duelists. How it played host to some global domination, purification, and annihilation plots all thwarted by Jaden Yuki. You'd think that now that he has graduated, things might get better for the school, right? Well you couldn't be more wrong. New dark clouds are brewing over Duel Academy, and it's going to take a special group of individuals to cause them to disperse. This is the beginning of a new legacy.

. . .

**Chapter 1 A Normal Day**

A new day dawns at the Duel Academy Testing Arena, as many hopefuls crowd into the stadium to take part in this year's entrance exam duels. A black car pulled up to the front of the area

"We've arrived, sirs" a voice called from inside the car. The back right door opened and out stepped two boys. One had black hair down to his shoulders which he had pulled back into a ponytail wearing a casual outfit of a gold shirt and blue jeans. The other had surprisingly natural pale green hair which was done in a traditional haircut wearing a white and grey shirt and pants combo. Before taking off, the black haired boy looked back and stuck his head back through the open car door.

"Remember Rolland," he said to the driver, "Not a word of this to Seto."

"Don't worry Mokuba," Rolland told him, "I promise you he won't hear about this from any of the staff."

With that, Mokuba closed the door and the car took off. He turned to his green haired friend.

"You ready for this Noah?" Mokuba asked.

"I am," Noah responded, "but the question is, are you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you're enrolling into Duel Academy behind Seto's back, and on top of that you have the … well, you know what you have."

They started walking to the door of the arena.

"Seto wants me to prove to him that I can take care of myself. And the only way to do that is to beat him. That's why I used some connections to get enrolled into Duel Academy, to try and better understand dueling."

"I still don't understand why I had to come along with you."

"It's because with that super computer of a mind you have, you can help me with some of the tougher assignments."

"So basically, you want me to help you cheat."

"Not cheat. More like tutor."

"Riiiiiiiiiight."

Once they got inside, they were aw-struck at what they saw. The arena was huge. It could probably fit twice the seating capacity of the Kaiba Dome, and it was filled with dozens, upon hundreds of Academy hopefuls.

"Think we're in the right place?" Mokuba joked.

"Only if you're here to accept an offer you can't refuse." Mokuba and Noah looked to see two boys about their age walking towards them. One looked like a 1950's greaser complete with leather jacket, while the other looked like a stereotypical cowboy long sandy blonde hair held in a ponytail that stretched down to his mid-back.

"Relax," the cowboy said, "he's just joshin'. Y'all are here for the entry exams, right?"

"Uh, yeah," said Mokuba.

"Hey, so are we!" exclaimed the greaser. "Name's Vinnie Baritony."

"And I'm Jethro Cartwright," said the cowboy, extending his hand for a shake.

"I'm Mokie Biaka," said Mokuba, returning the handshake. "And this is Noah Abaki."

"How do you say your last name again?" Vinnie asked Mokuba.

"It's bi-a-ka" Mokuba told them.

"Funny," chuckled Vinnie, "I could've swore you were a Kaiba."

"Really?" Mokuba said with a nervous laugh. "Why?"

"Well," Jethro said, "you do kinda look like his younger brother."

"Yeah, but that would be impossible," Vinnie laughed. "I mean let's face it. Seto Kaiba is so selfish and stuck-up; I bet he wouldn't even help his younger brother."

At this comment, Mokuba glared at Vinnie and tensed up as if he was getting ready to hit him. It was then that Noah gave him a couple elbow nudges, to snap him out of it.

"Easy," he whispered to him. With that, Mokuba regained his composure, but he was still hot under the collar.

"Now Vinnie," Jethro said, "You don't have all the facts so don't jump to conclusions. 'Sides I doubt he's all that ruthless."

This cheered Mokuba up a bit, until a voice so cold it would cause blood to freeze inside the body, spoke up.

"Heh, you're right," said the voice. "He's not ruthless, and that's why he's going to lose his company."

All eyes turned to see the source of the voice. They saw a boy about their age dressed a little too formal to be participating in the Entry Exams. He was wearing black dress shorts and shoes, white socks and a dress shirt, a green tie, and a yellow sport coat. His dark violet hair was styled into one large point in the back of his head pointing straight up. His yellow eyes staring coldly at them as if staring straight into their souls.

"And you are?" Jethro asked, eyeing him for twisting his comment in the opposite direction than he wanted.

"Just the next top duelist at this school," the boy said. "None of you can ever hope to compare to my skill, so you best just stay out of my way."

He walked right in between them, knocking into Vinnie's shoulder as he went past them. All they could do was watch and stare.

"Anyone have any idea who that varmint is?" Jethro asked.

"I don't just have an idea," said Vinnie, "I have a source."

"How so?" Noah asked.

Vinnie pulled a cell phone out of his pocket.

"This little beauty is hooked up with the latest in facial recognition software," said Vinnie, "and I just took a shot of his ugly mug."

"There's an ap for that?" Noah asked.

"Better believe it," Vinnie answered.

Everyone looked over Vinnie's shoulder as he punched some buttons on the phone's keypad. "Now we just enter his pic into the search engine and …Bingo!"

On the phone's screen was an online newspaper article titled _Prince of the Press joins Duel Academy classes._

"Well, well, well, look at this. We are blessed to be graced with the presence of Len Daotao, the heir to the Daotao fortune, and the next in line to run the Daotao Media group."

"What's the Daotao Media Group?" Jethro asked.

"You really are country, aren't you?" Vinnie said, giving Jethro a strange look. He turned his gaze back to his phone. "The Daotao Media Group is the largest news media organization in history. It has a hold on almost all the newspapers, tabloids, magazines, TV news stations, and news distribution websites worldwide. They make Hearst and Pulitzer look like wannabees."

"I'm sure he's not as bad as he seems," Noah said hopefully.

"Trust me Noah," Mokuba said, "he is."

"How do you know?" Jethro asked.

"Oh, uh," Mokuba said, looking around nervously and sweating, "I don't really. It's just that everything I've heard…"

"Well, you shouldn't believe everything you hear," Jethro said.

"Attention!" cried a voice over the stadium's PA system. "We will now begin the Duel Academy Entry Exams. Will the hopefuls listed on the screen please report to the designated Duel Arenas. For everyone else, please watch the screen at the end of each duel to see if you will be next into the arena. Good Luck to all of you." As the announcement ended, the video screens on the overhead scoreboard lit up, displaying the pictures of six hopefuls next to the word "Arena" and a number 1 through 6.

"Looks like you're up first in Arena 3, Mokie," Noah said.

"Well, wish me luck," Mokuba said as he walked down the stand steps to a waiting official who lead him to his arena. Standing across from him was a tall man, about 5'10", with red hair in a short ponytail, a long yellow overcoat that came to his knees and furled out and black pants and shoes.

"Hey there," he said. "The name's Norman. I'll be your test proctor for today's exam. You got a name kid?"

"Yeah," Mokuba said back to him, "mine's Mokie."

"Mokie, huh?" Norman asked, shuffling his deck "That's an interesting name."

"Well," Mokuba called back, "I'm an interesting kind of guy."

"Touché," Norman said, as he put his deck back into its slot on his Duel Disk. "So are you ready for this?" He activated his Disk.

Mokuba made the same moves he did. "Bring it!" he shouted.

"Let's Duel!" they shouted together.

**(Mokuba: 8000) (Norman: 8000)**

"As the proctor," said Norman, "I make the first move." He drew a card from his deck. "First, I play Graceful Charity." As he said this he placed the card in a slot on his Disk and a hologram of the card appeared on the field. "This lets me draw 3 cards so long as I discard two. Next I summon Baron of the Fiend Sword in Attack Mode." He placed a card on his Disk and a fat yellow fiend wearing a suit and wielding a glowing brown sword stood before him (ATK: 1550) "That ends my turn."

"Then it's my go," Mokuba said drawing a card. "I summon Gene-Warped Warwolf in Attack Mode." As he placed the card on his disc, a bizarre looking white, four-armed Beast Warrior wearing a metal skirt appeared in front of him. (ATK: 2000) "Warwolf, Attack his Baron with Quad-Claw Slash!" The creature ran up to the fiend and ran each of his clawed hands through it once before it blew up into a flurry of pixels. **(Norman: 7550)**

"Now I'll set this face-down and call it a turn." A hologram of a card appeared in front of him with its back facing the ceiling.

"My draw!" Norman shouted as he drew a card. "I'll set this monster facedown as well as this." Two facedown cards appeared in front of him, one in front of the other. "That's all for now."

"My move!" Mokuba said as he drew. _'He's planning something with that face-down monster. I better get rid of it fast.' _He thought.

"I play Polymerization!" a vortex instantly opened behind him. "Now I can fuse together the Mystic Horseman and Battle Ox in my hand to bring out this bad boy."

A centaur with blond hair, brown fur, and a blond tail and a minotaur with red and gold armor appear and were instantly sucked up into the vortex. After a flash of light a new monster appeared on the field. It had the upper body of Battle Ox, complete with armor, though a lot more muscular, and the lower half of Mystic Horseman wearing a harness. (ATK: 2000) "Meet my Rabid Horseman. Then, since I still have my normal summon, I'm bringing out Spear Dragon." A blue dragon with a cream underbelly and a head whose snout drew itself into a very sharp-looking point appeared. (ATK: 1900) "Spear Dragon! Attack!"

Spear Dragon opened its mouth and unleashed a powerful cyclone aimed at the facedown monster.

"Sorry, but I can't let you do that!" Norman hollered before his facedown flipped. "I activate my Negate Attack Trap Card." A vortex of a different kind appeared and absorbed the whirlwind. "B+ for effort kid, but you didn't take my Trap Card into account, at least that's what I suppose. Anything else?"

"Other than switching Spear Dragon into Defense Mode by its own effect," Mokuba told him as his Dragon crossed its wings in front of itself, "I'm good."

"Well, then," Norman said as he drew, "I think it's time to reveal my mystery monster." He turned the card over on his disk and a purple beetle standing on its two back legs, wearing red shorts which had two satchels strapped to its back, holding junky objects as if it was trying to sell them at a bargain. "Meet the Magical Merchant, and when he's Flip Summoned, I take cards off the top of my deck until I get a Spell or Trap Card. Then, that card gets added to my hand while the rest go to my Graveyard."

Norman started to pick up cards, tossing them into his Graveyard after looking at them. After what Mokuba thought were about thirteen cards going to the Graveyard, he added the next one to his hand. "Next, I'll play Pot of Greed, letting me draw two cards."

He did so, and as he looked at the cards in his hand, a sly smile crossed his face.

"Let's see how you handle this. I play the spell card I got from my Merchant, my Synthesis Spell Ritual!"

The card instantly appeared on Norman's side of the field.

"Now I'll offer Magical Merchant along with three monsters from my hand to bring out my Magical Lycanthrope in Attack Mode."

As he spoke, the holo-forms of a skull shrouded in a purple mist, a menacing green and blue flower with a thorny stem, and the rotting corpse of a fiendish clown appeared before being absorbed along with the Merchant by the card, creating a bright flash of light. As the light faded a grey-furred, yellow-eyed, feral-looking werewolf wearing tattered blue pants and Cybernetic implants was left standing on the field. (ATK: 2400)

"Now I play another Pot of Greed."

He drew two more cards.

"Next, I play Cost Down, discard one card to bring out my Beast of Talwar."

Once he placed the card in his disc, a tall dark green fiend wielding two curved swords appeared next to Lycanthrope.

"Talwar, take out his Warwolf."

The fiend raised its swords as they charged with a dark energy.

"I activate my Trap Card," Mokuba said as his face-down lifted, "Gift of the Mystical Elf. This gives me 300 Life Points for every monster on the field, giving me an extra 1500 Life Points." **(Mokuba: 9500)**

"Well, Talwar's attack still goes through!" Norman remarked.

With that the fiend leaped into the air, with his swords raised high over his head. He then crossed the swords, and swung them downward releasing the dark energy in an X-shaped cross-slash that sailed through the air, striking the mutated wolf and causing it to explode into shards of its former image. **(Mokuba: 9100)** The force of the blast whipped against Mokuba, causing him to shield himself from it and the hologram shards that flew by him before evaporating into pixels. They may have been holograms, but they were real enough to make even a strong man flinch.

"What's the matter, kid?" Norman asked. "Can't stand Solid Imaging?"

"Sorry," Mokuba said sheepishly, "first time with all of this."

Up in the stands, Noah held his head in his hands. _'I told him we should try practicing with the Duel Disks on,' _he thought.

"Well, if you thought that was bad," Norman said pointing to his werewolf, "just wait until Lycanthrope is through with your Horseman."

With that, the werewolf leaped into the air, soaring right towards Mokuba's Rabid Horseman. As it drew closer, it drew back its right claw and thrust it forward, slicing through Mokuba's Horseman, causing it to shatter. **(Mokuba: 8700)**

"To make matters worse on your part, Lycanthrope's special ability now kicks in. Now for every Normal Monster in my Graveyard, you lose an additional 200 points from your score. Go! Shadow Dance Howl!"

The enhanced werewolf let out a long, eerie howl. As the sound waves flew past Mokuba, they knocked him to the ground. **(Mokuba: 4700)**

"I'll end it there," Norman said. "If you really want to get into Duel Academy, you're gonna have to do a lot better this. So let's see what kind of comeback you can mount."

Mokuba slowly picked himself up off the ground.

_'Man,'_ he thought, _'if I don't draw something good now, it's all over.'_

Norman looked on deep in thought, _'Hm, he's a novice in every sense of the word, but I can sense a lot of potential in him. I only hope he can make it through this.'_

Mokuba took a long look at his deck before he finally reached for it.

"Here goes," he said as he drew. He looked at the card.

_'Hey,'_ he said in his head, _'this could help. It managed to get Seto out of a few tight spots. So, maybe it can help now.'_

"I'll set this face down," Mokuba said as the card back appeared before him, "and end my turn."

"That's it!" Norman said with a look of shock on his face. "You do know you're losing don't you?"

"Yeah, but I know that this will help me turn things around." Mokuba called back.

_'Where did this confidence boost come from?'_ Norman wondered. "Alright, if that's how you want it." He drew. "I'll summon Dancing Elf in Attack Mode."

A beautiful blonde-haired female winged elf in a light blue dress and red shoes appeared next to Norman's other monsters. (ATK: 300)

"It maybe a bit of overkill, but better safe than sorry. Beast of Talwar, attack!"

The fiend charged again and raked its swords against Mokuba's facedown card.

"Well, dat's dat," Vinnie said.

"That just about wraps up this rodeo," Jethro added.

"Pity," Len scoffed, "I expected more from him, but I suppose it you use a beatdown deck, you're bound to fall on your face."

"Don't count him out yet," Norman said with a smile. "Look."

All eyes fell on the field to see the facedown card that should have been destroyed by the sword-wielding fiend start to spark madly.

"What's going on?" Norman inquired, as the sparking card lifted to reveal the image of some sort of space pod in the artwork.

"A Cyber Jar?" Eyes wide in shock, Norman knew what was coming. The card exploded in a great white flash that blinded everyone in the arena, even those still in their own testing duels. The light faded to reveal the field clear of all monsters. Mokuba and Norman lowered their arms, as they had to shield their eyes from t he light and reach for their decks.

"With Cyber Jar's effect, now that the field is clear, we draw five cards and then Special Summon all Level Four or lower monsters we draw," Mokuba explained as he drew. "I'll summon Familiar Knight and Berserk Gorilla, both in Attack Mode."

A knight in fancy armor, and a large gorilla both appeared, ready to fight as knight drew his sword and the gorilla fiercely beat his chest.

(FK ATK: 1200) (BG ATK: 2000)

Norman then drew his five cards. "I'll set two monsters on the defensive and then summon Gagagigo and 7 Colored Fish in Attack Mode," he then said.

Two facedowns, a lizard man, and a fish with scales every color of the rainbow appeared on his field. (G ATK: 1850) (7CF ATK: 1800)

"Not bad kid," Norman continued, "but you're gonna have to do better than that to keep me from winning. Gagagigo, attack Familiar Knight."

The lizard man charged at the warrior and delivered a powerful punch to his gut, causing him to shatter. Gagagigo than leaped back to his position on the field.

**(Mokuba: 4050)**

"That's about all I can do for now. This is your last chance, so don't blow it."

"Oh, I won't!" Mokuba exclaimed as he drew, but when he saw what he drew, his eyes grew wide in fear and he stood there frozen.

_'No,'_ he thought, _'not THIS card! Not yet!'_

Up in the stands, Noah saw Mokuba's face and knew what happened. _'He drew it. I told him to take it out if he wasn't ready yet, but do I know anything? No, I have a super-computer mind, what do I know?'_

Norman noticed the change in his opponent's demeanor. _'He either drew something really good or really bad. Question is, which is it?'_

"I … uh …" Mokuba started. "I play Dark Core discarding the card I just drew to remove my Berserk Gorilla from play." As he slid the card into his Graveyard, the gorilla vanished from sight.

"Then I play Card of Sanctity, letting us draw until we have six cards." They did so.

"Now I'll set two cards facedown and then play Card Destruction."

_'What's his game?'_ Norman wondered as he slid his hand into his Graveyard and drew six new cards and Mokuba did the same with his three cards.

"Next I'll activate the Soul Release I set before playing Card Destruction, removing five cards from my Graveyard from play."

Five cards slid out of his Graveyard and he placed them in his pocket with the Berserk Gorilla Card.

"Now I summon Gyaku-Gire Panda." A large, savage panda appeared with a roar on Mokuba's field as he placed the card on his disk. (ATK: 800)

"One thing you should know about this cuddly little bear is that he doesn't like competition. In fact, he gains 500 Attack Points for each of your monsters so he can rip it apart."

The panda roared louder than before as his skyrocketed. (ATK: 2800)

"So, you finally got something good out on the field," stated a confident Norman. "But what else do you got?"

"You're about to find out!" Mokuba yelled out as confidence started to flow through him again. "I activate my other facedown, Dimension Fusion!"

"WHAT!" Norman shockingly asked along with Vinnie, Jethro, and Len; while all the while, Noah simply smiled. _'He's about to bring this to a close.'_

"By giving up 2000 Life Points," Mokuba explained, "I get to back as many of my Monsters that have been removed from play as I can." He pulled four cards out of his pocket. **(Mokuba: 2050)** "So let's welcome back these four. First, Tri-Horned Dragon…"

A large, wingless, blue scaled dragon appeared on the panda's far left, armed with sharp claws and three even sharper horns on top of its head. (ATK: 2850)

"Then, Spiral Serpent…"

A huge, vicious, blue-skinned sea creature appeared between the dragon and the panda. (ATK: 2900)

"Judge Man…"

An old, but still buff, man appeared on the panda's far right, dressed regally in armor and a cape, wielding a large mace in each hand. (ATK: 2200)

"And finally, Berserk Gorilla…"

The large gorilla that Mokuba played earlier reappeared in his last empty Monster Card Zone. (ATK: 2000)

"He's amassed an entire army to his field," Vinnie stated in awe, "but then, even so, the math is still a little not in his favor."

"He still has two cards left in his hand," Jethro told him. "I bettin' they're somethin' that'll bring 'im a win."

"The odds of that are completely against him, 'Tex,'" Len scoffed. "While he may have put up a fairly decent wall…that is all it is."

"Looks like luck is on my side," Mokuba told Norman, "as these last two cards are just what I need to win this. First, I equip Fairy Meteor Crush to Spiral Serpent."

The strange sea serpent glowed with a strange now power.

"Then I'll use Wild Nature's Release to add the defensive power of my panda to its attack power," he continued, as the bear roared even more savagely than when it first appeared. (ATK: 4400)

"Well, I'll be…" Jethro stated softly.

"No way…" Vinnie muttered just as awestruck.

"Impossible!" Len shouted as left the reclined position he was in since the start of the duel. "How could he have gotten all the cards he needed like that and beat the odds?"

"Well," Vinnie said looking at Len, "it as been known to happen in a lot of places."

"But not with a beginner like him!" Len spat out.

"Time to end this," Mokuba proudly stated. "I attack you with all of my monsters!"

With that, all of his monsters took a ready stance. First, Gyaku-Gire Panda charged forward and mulled one of Norman's facedowns, which revealed itself to be a green-skinned man with shackles on his wrists, ankles, and around his neck. **(Norman: 4150)** That was then followed by a powerful jet stream of water was launched out of the mouth of Spiral Serpent and washed away the other defensive monster, a wispy soul of a tiger. **(Norman: 3350)** Then, both the dragon and the judge ran forward, attacking the remaining monsters as the dragon swallowed the fish whole **(Norman: 2300)** while the warrior clubbed the lizardman over the head with one of his maces. **(Norman: 1950)** Finally, things heated up for Norman as the gorilla breathed out a stream of fire from its mouth that ended up giving Norman a case of hotfoot. **(Norman: 0)** Norman stood firm taking it all like a true duelist.

"Congratulations, Mokie," he said, "welcome to Duel Academy."

"You…" Mokuba stuttered, "You mean I did it?"

"You sure did," Norman told him.

"ALRIGHT!" screamed Mokuba at the top of his lungs as the crowd of hopefuls, aside from Len and Noah, cheered. Len was simply sulking because some "rookie" got lucky, while Noah had another thought in mind. _'He had to have drawn that card. That's the only reason why he froze.'_

_**Just what is this mysterious card that Mokuba drew just before his winning move that made him freeze in fright? Well, that will be explained next time as history repeats itself in **_**Enter the New Dropout Boy.**

_A/N: Questions? Comments? Just post a review or send me a PM, and all to troubles are through…well, at least troubles concerning this._


	2. Enter the New Dropout Boy

**Chapter 2**

**Enter the New Dropout Boy**

The entry duels carried quite well through the day. Some of them were short and sweet, leading into losses for many hopeful and wins for quite a few; and some were long and had an even ratio. Noah's testing match, which was right after Mokuba's duel, took a good portion of the day. Noah finally ended up winning by means of his opponent decking out. Once Nosh got back to his spot in the stands, he found Mokuba and grabbed him by the wrist.

"We need to talk," he said, as he led him away, catching the attention of Jethro and Vinnie.

After a couple of minutes of waiting until the main hall was clear, Noah started talking.

"You drew it, didn't you?"

"I. . ." the younger Kaiba stuttered, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Come on, Mokie," said Noah. "I saw you up in the stands, soon as you drew your last card you froze up."

"It was just nerves," Mokuba told him, turning away.

"Really?" the original Kaiba asked. "Then why won't you look me in the eye."

Mokuba remained silent.

"OK," Noah said, as he pressed a button on Mokuba's disk, "but you forced me to do this."

The button Noah pushed opened a compartment in Mokuba's disk that had a retractable cable, usually used if one player preferred not to use a disk and instead battled on a Duel Arena by linking the disk user's disk to his platform. Noah took the cable and attached it to a connection that appeared in the lower section of his palm. Noah then closed his eyes as if he was in deep thought. Mokuba was sweating as if he was about to be found out. Noah opened his eyes, and then gave Mokuba a stern look.

"I knew it," he said as he disconnected the cable. He then held out his hand. "Give me the cards."

"Noah, I can handle it," Mokuba protested.

"I beg to differ," Noah explained. "You were OK this time, but other times…your reaction time after drawing one of them is getting considerably longer. Most tournaments have at best a three-minute limit between drawing and playing your first card, and the way you are when you draw one of those cards, you'll freeze up and lose by time limit."

"Noah, you're overreacting, again," Mokuba said with a roll of his eyes. "I'm telling you I'm OK."

"I'm gonna have to agree with your friend, friend," said a voice with a Southern drawl. Noah and Mokuba both looked to see Jethro and Vinnie standing there behind them. "Freezing up in a duel is hazardous."

"Yous want to talk bout it?" Vinnie asked.

"It's kind of a private thing," Noah told them

"Sometimes seeking an outside opinion can help," Jethro said, pushing his hat up.

"Besides," Vinnie said as he held up his Iphone to show two images side by side; one was of Mokuba standing next to his brother Seto at some kind of press conference, the other was a yellowed photograph of Noah in a suit with the word 'obituary' in big bold type above it. "You probably won't find as decent a pair of guys as us."

"You call 'spying' and 'snooping' decent?" Noah asked in a raised voice.

"I call 'not telling the world dat da dead walk among us and dat da brudder of Seto Kaiba is going to school behind his brudder's back' decent." Vinnie stated back at him, shutting him up.

"You mean . . . "Mokuba started to say.

"We aren't gonna tell anyone about this," the cowboy said for him.

"We ain't nothing like dat rich snob Len," the greaser continued, "who believes everything should be known by everyone. So, do yous trust us enough now to fill us in, now?"

Both Kaiba's looked at each other and shrugged.

"Actually, it might be OK to tell someone," Mokuba said to Noah. "It might make it a little easier to keep it quiet if there're others to talk about it with."

All three gave that comment a look of confusion.

"Alright," Noah said, rolling his eyes as if giving up. "It's your secret."

The young Kaiba's eyes lit up a bit with relief at those words. He took his deck out of his disk and showed them the bottom card. Vinnie and Jethro both gasped at the sight of the card's art, a large, white dragon with brilliant blue eyes.

"No way!" Vinnie finally said. "You got the Blue-Eyes!"

"Not just one," Mokuba told them, as he reached into his side deck and pulled out two more copies of the same dragon and a Fusion Monster that looked like a three headed version of the monster.

"You got the complete set," Jethro softly said in disbelief.

"What did ya do?" Vinnie asked. "Steal 'em from your bro?"

"Vinnie," Jethro stated, shocked at the comment.

"It's a legit question," Vinnie said defensively, "dere's only tree Blue-Eyes cards and one Ultimate Dragon card dat I know of, and Seto Kaiba has 'em."

"Actually, one other copy exists that's owned by Yugi Muto's grandpa. He can't use it because my brother was going through a selfish, power-hungry stage in his life and tore the card in half."

"Huh, learn something new everyday," Vinnie said. "Still, you didn't answer da question."

"Actually," Noah chimed in, "they're reprints designed by Pegasus himself."

"Really?" Jethro said, puzzled. "I always thought that he and your brother had a contract letting Kaiba be the only one to have the Blue-Eyes and its supports in exchange for Pegasus using your brother's technology in his tournaments."

"Not exactly," Mokuba explained, "see Pegasus wanted to make new copies of the Blue-Eyes, but was a little scared to for two reasons, because he doesn't know how the other player's will take the release of the cards, and also he's scared that Seto might make something out of it, court case of otherwise. When I explained to him that I wanted to try and surpass or match Seto, showing him I could take care of myself, Pegasus suggested that I use the Blue-Eyes to show him that I'm just as capable of handling his job as he is."

"Let's not forget that he wants to use you as a guinea pig to see how the Academy students will take to additional White Dragon cards," Noah said with an annoyed tone in his voice.

"Can I help it if I'm the only one he trusts with this?" Mokuba asked him. This merely earned him a glare from Noah.

"OK," Vinnie said messing with his Iphone again, "Dat's one question answered, but what about dis one." He held it up to show Noah's obituary picture again.

"You want to know how I'm alive and this young, when I should be old and dead, right?" Noah sighed. "Before I was officially dead, my father, Gozaburo Kaiba, uploaded my mind onto a super computer. He originally wanted to use Seto as a new body for me, but saw better potential in him, at least until Seto took over the company. Gozaburo uploaded his mind into the virtual world he created for me, and through a course of events that we'll fill you in on when we have more time and privacy, I had ultimately sealed him and myself in our virtual world as it was destroyed, taking both of us with it, but I was able to create a back-up of my files before it went."

"After Battle City, I found this e-mail subjected 'To Mokie from a humbled step-brother' and after opening it found all of Noah's back-up files," Mokuba continued. "I kept him hidden from Seto for years, knowing he probably would have deleted him on the spot. A couple of years ago, our tech-development department started venturing into duel droids, cyborgs that operate using organic materials as a fuel, able to come up with top notch dueling strategies. Seto was gong to use them as part of a dueling experience attraction for Kaiba Land. Noah is one of the more successful prototypes. His interior structure was able to withstand attack from all three Blue-Eyes and the Ultimate Dragon together. We drained that droids memory banks and replaced them with Noah's files, applied some artificial skin and hair, and now…you see the results."

"Modern technology," Vinnie said, "gotta love it. Well, my mouth's shut on dis."

"Same here," Jethro added, "but with all of this, I think we need some re-introductions. My name's Jethro Cartwright." He extended his hand for a handshake.

"I'm Vinnie Baritony," Vinnie added, doing the same.

"Mokuba Kaiba," Mokuba said, accepting Jethro's hand.

"Noah Kaiba," Noah said, accepting Vinnie's.

"Hey, careful dere!" Vinnie exclaimed. "Don't squeeze too hard, dis is the only hand I's got on dis side; da other one's in use already!"

All four of them laughed at that so hard, none of them noticed a piece of yellow cloth showing itself from around a corner before disappearing.

"Phew! I can't believe I made it on time!" said a voice.

They four newly dubbed friends looked towards the main entrance and saw that the source of the voice was a boy about their age wearing a wrinkled grey t-shirt, jean shorts, mismatched socks, and black shoes. He glistened with a light layer of sweat and had a Duel Disk on his arm.

"Uh, can we help you?" Noah asked him.

"You think you could help me find the arena?" the kid asked. "I gotta do my entry duel for Duel Academy."

"Oh," Jethro said with slight surprise, "well then…Uh…guys?" He looked to Mokuba and Noah for support.

"You see…" Mokuba stammered.

"The…uh, the thing is…" Noah added.

"Their doin' da final few matches as we speak." Vinnie final stated. "I don't think they had any more planned."

"What?" the kid asked, shock by this news as he fell to his knees. "But I must have gotten here on time. I…I can't be disqualified just because my alarm clock decided not to work today. I…I…"

"Hey, hey, hey, hey," Vinnie stated as he ran to the kids side, and placed an arm around his shoulder. "Cool it, will ya? I'm sure dey's gonna let you do your thing. Just let it register with them first."

"Yeah," Mokuba told him as he, Noah, and Jethro came closer. "If you made it on time, I doubt they'd turn you away."

"You really think so?" the boy asked.

"Absolutely," Noah said confidently.

"Definitely," Mokuba added.

"No doubt," Vinnie told him, throwing in a thumbs up.

"Yes, sir." Jethro finished with a nod.

"Wow," the boy said as he stood back up, "I hope I make it, so that I can hang around with you guys, my first friends at Duel Academy."

Everyone smiled at that and started to get to know one another as they waited to hear the kid's name get called.

**-GXNL-**

Back in the arena area, up in one of the box seats, members of the Academy staff watched as the final duels took place while they chatted about the previous duels and reviewed the status sheet of the accepted students. One such faculty member was rather thin, wearing an elaborate, frilly blazer/overcoat. His hair was a bright blond-ish color, and held back in a long ponytail. His face was one only a mother could love. He was . . .

"Dr. Crowler?"

The teacher turned to see that the source of the voice was a certain red-haired man, now wearing a red overcoat.

"Well, Well, Mr. Norman Plains," Crowler said in his usual way as Norman took an empty seat next to him. "I see that you've received your new jacket."

"I figured I'd try to break it in," Norman told him, "I don't see why I couldn't wear it during my duels."

"That is because, if they knew they were dueling a teacher," Crowler explained, "they wouldn't perform their best because of nerves. We want them at their best when they duel. The same goes for you and the other starting teachers. We don't want you feeling their nerves. Nor do we want you developing your own nerves by acting as if you have a role this early. We need the new staff members to ease into their roles just as much as we want or need the new students to do so."

"Uh-huh," Norman said somewhat sarcastically, "I think I get it now."

"Dr. Crowler," said a voice behind them.

The professor turned to see that a security guard was standing right behind him.

"What can I do for you?" he asked.

"We have a late arrival. One Junker Sanchez," the guard told him. "He came to the sign-in table just as we were packing up."

"Junker?" Norman asked. "His name is Junker?"

"He put that down as his nickname. His real name is Emmanuel."

_'I'm getting a strange case of deja vu,'_ Crowler thought. _'I wonder . . . '_

"If he made it on time then we should test him," he then said.

"But who will be his proctor?" asked one of the administration people. "What deck will he face?"

"I could go back down there and face him with my Normal Deck," Norman offered.

"That won't be necessary," Crowler explained. "Leave him to me."

**-GXNL-**

On the upper deck of the arena, current academy students who volunteered to help set-up and clean-up, as well as any other kind of aid needed in-between, were watching all the action. Four people in particular were watching very closely. One was a boy with short brown hair and glasses, wearing the typical Obelisk blue blazer with black pants and canvas shoes. Next to him was a girl with dark green hair styled into three spikes on the back of her head, held that way upward by three clips. She wore the typical uniform for a student in the Obelisk Girl's Dorm, but draping down to her ankles from under her skirt was a black dress skirt with a green Chinese dragon wrapping itself around her legswith a slit that went up to her thigh.Next to her was a boy with dreadlocks, a deep tan, and a muscular build wearing a sleeveless version of a Ra jacket, a green undershirt, a bandanna with a dinosaur-like design, beige combat pants, combat boots, a bone necklace, and a pair of bone earrings. Finally, after him was a boy with spiky, read hair, wearing a sleeveless Oblelisk blue blazer opened to reveal a black and blood red stripped shirt underneath it, a silver bullet on a silver chain around h is neck, black army boots, black cut-off gloves, and dark blue jeans held up by a black leather belt.

"You know, I still can't believe you were selected as a student dorm leader, Jun," said the boy in the yellow, sleeveless jacket. "I mean after all you're a junior."

"Class level isn't everything, Hassleberry," the green haired girl told him, with a slight British accent. "I'm sure the chancellor also considered grades, dueling records and leadership capabilities."

"One thing is for sure, Sarge," the brown haired boy said with a heavy Boston accent, "you and Leon got it easy. Jun and I have to babysit the snobbish 'high-and-mighty' types at our dorm."

"Hey," Hassleberry said, "Ra's got its share of that too. Sure the Blue Boys and Girls have the most of it, but the Ra barracks has its own couple of sour apples."

"Still you can't blame Cody and I for being jealous," Jun said. "I mean I'd take the Slifer Dorm over my own any day."

"Don't let Crowler hear you say that," Cody told her. "He'd wonder where he went wrong."

The three of them laughed at that, but stopped when a voice came over the loudspeakers.

**"Attention, would Emmanuel Sanchez please report to the Dueling Arena? Your Proctor is waiting for you."**

"Looks like we got a last minute entry," said the red-headed Oblelisk, "And it looks like we're in for an interesting match."

"What makes you say that, Leon?" the Ra asked him.

"Look at who the Proctor is," Leon answered.

Hassleberry and the two other Obelisk students looked down to see two girls in Obelisk Blue uniforms strapping a device onto Dr. Crowler.

"Crowler's dueling him!" Hassleberry yelled. "What's he trying to prove!" 

"Maybe nothing, but maybe everything," Jun commented. "Who can tell with the good doctor?"

"Maybe he just wants to see how badly the kid wants to be here," Cody suggested.

"Well, we'll find out shortly," Leon told them as they waited to see how things would unfold.

**-GXNL-**

Meanwhile

"Told you that they would give you a chance," Mokuba told Junker as they walked toward the arena with Noah, Vinnie and Jethero behind them. "Good Luck."

"Rub out his monstas!" Vinnie told him.

"Take him down," Noah added.

"Uh, just do you best," Jethro finished. "That's all anyone can ask from you."

"Thanks, guys," Junker said to his new friends. "And Mokuba, just to let you know, win or lose, your secrets safe with me," with that, he took off for the arena.

"'Just do your best?'" Vinnie asked Jethro. "Dat's the best pep talk you could come up with?"

"It's the truth, ain't it?" Jethro replied. "That's all any of us can do is our best."

"You gotta try and put fire in deir eyes so dey can go strong." Vinnie told him.

"Well, he's gonna need all the strength and luck he can get," Mokuba told them, indicating the duel field Junker was heading to. "Look who he's dueling."

The cowboy, greaser, and cybernetic Kaiba looked where he was indicating to see an effeminate looking person wearing an oversized spin on the duel disk on his torso.

"I wonder who she is," Vinnie stated.

"That's actually a man," the young Kaiba explained, causing both Vinnie and Jethro to go wide-eyed and slack-jawed.

"You're kiddin," Jethro flatly stated.

"OK," Vinnie said as he regained his composure, "I've seen a lot of strange things on the streets of Brooklyn, but dat takes da cake."

"He's the headmaster of the Obelisk Blue Boys dorm," Noah told them. "According to his files, he uses an Ancient Gear Deck."

"Man, dose things are like the Blue-Eyes of Machine-types," Vinnie exclaimed, "and almost as rare as 'em too!"

"I hope our lil' buddy can do it," Jethro said.

All eyes watched intensely as Junker neared the field. As he entered the assigned field, Crowler spoke up.

"Well, you certainly don't know much about proper etiquette," Crowler said sternly. "Not only do you arrive late, wasting everyone's time and patience, but also your style of dress is atrocious. You haven't set a very good first impression for yourself."

"I thought this exam was about the way I duel, not the way I dress," Junker asked with a laugh.

"Oh it is," Crowler explained, "but first impressions are always key. Now then what's your name?"

"Emmanuel Sanchez," Junker told him, standing in attention, "but my friends call me Junker."

"Yes, well, Emmanuel," Dr. Crowler said smugly, "I'm Dr. Vellian Crowler, Vice-Chancelor of this prestigious establishment, and the Headmaster of the Obelisk Blue Boys Dormitory. Perhaps, at some point we will see you there, but for now, I'm afraid you'll have to prove that you really belong at Duel Academy."

"Bring it, Doc!" Junker said as he and the Vice-Chancelor turned on their Dueling Devices and drew their cards, Junker doing it the old fashion way while Crowler merely waved his hand over his Duel coat's deck holder and it ejected his starting hand.

**(Crowler: 8000) (Junker: 8000)**

"Since you're the applicant, you can take the first move." Crowler told him.

"Thanks," Junker said as he drew his sixth card. Studying his hand closely, he took one of the middle cards. "I'll just start off small by summoning Soul Tiger in Defense Mode."

A few spiritual wisps appeared before the young duelist. These wisps came together to form the spirit of a tiger with gleaming red eyes. The tiger sat on its haunches, taking a defensive stance. (DEF: 2100)

"Your move, Doc," Junker finished.

"I'd prefer it if you would call me by my full title," the professor told him.

"It's not meant in disrespect," the Duel Academy hopeful said.

"Still, I require the full and proper respect that the title deserves." As he said this, he waved his hand over the motion sensor, took the card his deck ejected in response and added it to his hand.

"I now use the Power of Magnet Circle LV2." He slid a card into a Spell and Trap Card Zone on his oversized duel tray. "With its effect, I can Special Summon my Ancient Gear to the field."

Appearing on the Duel Academy teacher's side of the field was what could be considered a rusty, mechanical version of a stick figure, with thin arms, a small wheel for legs, and a single gear for a head. (ATK: 100)

"Then, while I have 1 Ancient Gear on my field, I can Special Summon another one from my hand."

Another small, gear-headed robot appeared next to the first one. (ATK: 100)

"And I still have my Normal Summon to conduct, so I'll sacrifice them to summon my Ultimate monster."

The two monsters dissolved into particles of light and a large portal opened on the floor before Crowler, allowing a giant, hulking, behemoth of rusted metal and large gears put together in a humanoid form to raise up and loom over the field. (ATK: 3000)

"Witness the might of my Ancient Gear Golem!"

On the upper deck, the student volunteers were awestruck at the sight of their vice-chancellor's signature card.

"The Ancient Gear Golem?" Hassleberry asked in shocked surprise. "What the Sam Hill is he thinking bringing that out now?"

"I'll admit that card adds an extra challenge to the duel," Cody said, readjusting his glasses, "but bustin' AGG out this early in the duel. . . It's like he's trying to make a statement."

Jun leaned forward, resting her arms on the railing and placing her chin into the palm of her right hand. "My guess," she said, "he's reverting back to the old ways we've only heard about."

"I'm not so sure." The three duelists looked at Leon, wondering what he was getting at. "I think he's trying to bring out this kid's full potential. Think about it. If anyone else was told that they wouldn't get to these proceedings until at least a minute before they were supposed to end, they would tell themselves that there would be another year or another school. This kid, on the other hand, must have done the 200 meter dash in less than six seconds."

"So what you're sayin' is," Hassleberry said as it started to sink in, "Crowler's giving him the full force of his deck as a means to see how badly the kid wants to be at the Academy."

"Exactly," Leon continued. "Like many of history's soldiers, the toughest tactics can bring out the greatest potential."

"Still," Cody said, as they turned their attention back to the duel, "I can't help but wonder if Crowler knows what he's doing."

Over where Junker's new friends stood, they were in awe themselves at the sight before them.

"Oh man," Vinnie said, "dis don't look good."

"You can say that again," Jethro told him. "He's gonna need a lot more than a Soul Tiger to stay in this if that schoolmarm keeps dueling like that."

"Pity," said Len in his same icy voice as he came up behind them, catching their attention. "It appears that this will be all over before it starts. If only he had a super-rare, powerful card to save him, ay, Mokie?" With that, the yellow-eyed rich kid walked back to his seat, chuckling to himself the whole way.

"What did he mean by that?" Noah asked confused.

"Who knows," Vinnie answered, "but coming from him, I know dat it can't be good."

"Come on, guys," Mokuba told the other three, turning to face them. "We can worry about that later. Right now, Junker needs our support."

Vinnie, Jethro, and Noah all nodded in agreement with Mokuba's comment, and went back to watching the duel.

"You can do it, Junker!" Mokuba called out.

"Yeah, show that oversized hunk of junk who's da boss!" Vinnie added.

"It appears that you already have a following young scholar," Crowler said, hearing the support Junker was getting from the crowd, "but I wonder how much it can h…." It was then that one of the comments clicked something in his mind. One could almost see the smoke whistling out of his ears as his blood boiled.

"ALL RIGHT!" he yelled angrily. "WHO JUST CALLED BY GOLEM A HUNK OF JUNK!"

"Easy there, Doc….ter Crowler," Junker said, trying to calm him down. "Whoever said that is just trying to make you lose focus."

"I AM THE PROFESSOR HERE, NOT YOU!" Crowler screamed, scaring everyone in the arena. "DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"

"Yeah," the young duelist stammered. "Sure."

"Then allow me to drive home the point!" the Ancient Gear duelist continued. "Ancient Gear Golem, ATTACK! MECHINIZED MELEE!"

The gears within the giant machine whirled as it went through the motions, and delivered to the tiger spirit a devastating punch. Soul Tiger disintegrated under the force of the punch, allowing the Golem's fist to collide with Junker. As it was a hologram, Junker went through the fist, but he still felt the force of the Golem's strike. **(Junker: 7100)**

"Wait a minute!" Jethro exclaimed. "Soul Tiger was in defense mode! How did Junker end up taking damage?"

"You know what piercing damage is, don't ya, Cowboy?" Vinnie asked, still watching the scene unfold.

"Yeah," Jethro answered.

"Well," the greaser continued, "Ancient Gear Golem is like the king of piercers."

"Oh," the cowboy said as it sank in. "That'll definitely spell trouble for our little friend."

The other three nodded in agreement.

"There," Crowler said with a relaxing breath. "That was therapeutic. Now I'll just set these two cards facedown, and leave this problem for you to solve."

Two cards appeared facedown in front of Crowler as his high powered machine returned to a standby position and Junker drew his card.

"You're the one with the problem," Junker retorted. "I still have plenty of cards in my hand, but you've reduced yourself to top-decking. Not exactly a smart move."

"Perhaps," the teacher told him, "but you still have to deal with every one of my Ancient Gear Golem's three thousand Attack Points. And if you're thinking of putting my Golem in Defense Made, forget it. Because its Defense, like many Ancient Gear Monsters is the same as its Attack."

Junker examined his hand and smirked. "Oh, yeah? Well, that doesn't concern me in the least, Prof."

'Why must he insist on abbreviating my title?' Crowler thought, rolling his eyes.

"Time to bring that giant contraption down." Junker continued. "I summon Fortress Warrior in Attack Mode."

Appearing in front of Junker, where Soul Tiger once stood, was a man-sized, four-legged, four-armed, stoneman holding what looked like the top floor of a building with a helipad on top. (ATK: 600)

"I'm afraid your little rock monster isn't going to be enough to destroy Golem," Crowler remarked, "but this is good, this is good. It's a leaning experience. Now, for extra credit, can anyone tell ….."

"Hey Doc," Junker interrupted, slightly upsetting Dr. Crowler, "Two things: one, Fortress Warrior is a Warrior-type, not a rock, Two, I'm far from done. Since I've normal summoned a monster, I can Special Summon this guy from my hand. Meet Turbo Booster."

Appearing next to the helipad-holding warrior was a yellow robot with platforms for arms and a race car tracks starting lights on top of its head. (ATK: 0)

"I'm not seeing where this is going" the DA professor said, annoyed by the fact that he could be wrong about the boy.

"Just wait," the youth explained, "I've just set up my favorite combo. I attack the Ancient Gear Golem with Fortress Warrior."

Gasps erupted throughout the arena.

"He's nuts!" Vinnie and Cody unknowingly shouted at exactly the same time.

"The kid's gone loco!" Hassleberry and Jethro exclaimed likewise.

"Seems the stress of the match has already caused him to go daff," Jun sighed while Len said it with a confident smirk.

"Now before anyone thinks I've lost my mind, let me explain a few things." As Junker said this, the rocky warrior jumped up and landed on Turbo Boosters platforms, two feet on each. "See, Fortress Warrior can survive one battle a turn, and I take no damage from a battle he's in."

"Still doesn't help you destroy my monster," Crowler huffed.

"Part two of the combo, Turbo Booster," Junker explained. "I can sacrifice it to destroy one monster that battles with one of my monsters this turn."

"What?" Crowler exclaimed.

"That's a genius move!" Noah shouted. "Using Fortress to absorb the blow, and then using Turbo Booster like a homing missile to destroy the marked monster; he can take out any monster in the game!"

"The down side is that it's a one-shot deal," Mokuba added. "Turbo Booster has to destroy itself in order to destroy the opposing monster. If he could keep it on the field or Special Summon it back, it could be a perfect combo."

"Fortress Warrior Attack!" the Academy hopeful commanded.

But Fortress Warrior didn't make a move, rather the platforms launched themselves off the little machines arms by means of rocket boosters inside of them, and they carried the helipad-holding warrior to Crowler's ancient machine as the main body of Turbo Booster dissolved into pixels. Fortress Warrior sailed through the air and crashed right through the Golem's chest, leaving a large, gaping hole. Crowler stared, jaw dropped, at his once glorious monster as gears and strips of metal fell from the hole and clattered to the floor before fading to nothing, until the giant Ancient Gear monster collapsed and fell apart, becoming just a pile of scrap metal and gears before it too faded away.

"Sam Hill, I don't believe it!" the muscular student exclaimed.

"He took down Crowler's heavy hitter in just one turn," Cody said shocked by the sight. "I didn't think anyone other than Jaden could do that."

"Looks like this kid is full of surprises," Leon said.

Crowler, still in slight shock over the fall of his Golem, took a few deep breaths and recomposed himself.

"Bravo, young scholar," he applauded. "You've done quite well in taking down my Ancient Gear Golem, but, can you do it again?"

"I guess we'll just have to wait and find out," Junker said.

The Academy teacher reached up and grabbed the card his deck ejected.

"You said that top decking would do me right?" Crowler said with a grin after looking at it, causing Junker to become a little uneasy. Crowler then flipped the card around. "It looks like it did quite a lot. I play Card of Sanctity."

After playing the card, Crowler grabbed six cards that were ejected from his deck at the same time, while Junker hand-drew three.

"It also appears," Crowler stated as he showed the youth before him a second Ancient Gear Golem card, "that you'll face my Golem again sooner that you thought."

"You still gotta summon it," taunted Junker.

"And I will, with the help of this." As Crowler said that, his Trap Card lifted to reveal a humanoid lizard submerged in a tank, as a scientist was typing on a keyboard.

"Level Conversion Lab?" Noah shouted as he recognized the Trap. "That's not good. With that card he can bring out his Golem without a sacrifice."

"Only with the right amount of luck, he can," Jethro corrected. "It all rides on a dice roll now."

A large, white, six-sided die appeared over Crowler's field.

"With the odds in my favor, I'll be able to bring out my Golem without a sacrifice. Go, Dice Roll!"

Once the Ancient Gear duelist gave that command, the die dropped, bouncing around his field until it stopped to show a 5 face up.

"Too bad, Doc," Junker said. "With that result, you gotta sacrifice a monster to summon your ultimate monster, but you have no monsters on the field."

"Unfortunately, young scholar, that is where you're wrong," Crowler said as he slid a card into a slot next to his facedown. "I play Mystical Space Typhoon, and I'll use it to destroy my facedown card, State of the Wicked."

"WHAT!" Junker exclaimed, shocked by this development.

His friends shared in his surprise.

"When that card is destroyed," Noah said, "that'll give him a Token Monster, giving him the sacrifice he needs!"

"And puttin' da kid practically back at square one!" Vinnie added.

The spell card appeared on the professor's field and started to spin rapidly, creating a mini-tornado. That tornado moved until it was right on top of the facedown card. The force of the suction caused the card to shatter. The shards were picked up by the storm and shot out the top. They landed on Crowler's field reforming into a gold-skinned creature with four red eyes and a mouthful of sharp fangs. (ATK: 1000)

"Now I sacrifice my Wicked Token to summon my second Ancient Gear Golem!" Crowler cried.

With that the token dissolved into particles of light, and in its place rose the rusted metal giant once again. (ATK: 3000)

"Well, here we go again," Junker said as he looked the Golem up and down.

"Man," Vinnie said as he watched Junker, "he seems so calm. He must know somethin' we don't."

"This kid either has a lot of guts or not a lot of brains." Hassleberry said as he and his friends watched from their perch. "He ain't even fazed."

"Well, what will you do now?" Crowler asked. "As you have now seen, I have a way of bringing out a new Golem for when the first one falls, and I have ways of bringing back my fallen Golem as well. Your options are few, so which one will you choose?"

Junker closed his eyes and smiled. "Heh, isn't it obvious? I came to get into the Academy." He opened his eyes and one could almost see fire within them. "I choose to fight!"

Crowler couldn't help but smile as that comment made him think back to the last four years to a young man with a very similar attitude.

"Very well," Crowler said trying to keep the same tone he had when the duel started. "Then fell the force of my Golem. Mechanized Melee!"

With that, the machine pulled back its fist and threw its signature punch at Fortress Warrior, who took the full force of the attack with its helipad, but it did not shatter.

"Why is he surviving the attack?" Crowler asked as the attack ended.

"I guess you weren't listening last time I explained it." Junker said. "Fortress Warrior can't be destroyed once per turn, meaning yours and mine. And before you ask, the effect that prevents damage is continuous."

"Wow," Cody said with a laugh. "Crowler screwed that up. What was he thinking?"

"I think he wanted to be sure what he was facing," Leon told him. "A lot of duelists confuse a 'once during a players turn' effect with a 'once every turn' effect. Crowler was merely validating this kid's claim."

"So you think Dr. Crowler may just be toying with him?" Jun asked.

"It's possible," answered Leon, "but I'm not quite sure."

Back on the arena floor, the Ancient Gear Duelist crossed his arms.

"An interesting monster you have there, young scholar. Where did you find it?"

"From a garbage can," Junker stated.

"WHAT!" Everyone in the arena was in shock at that comment. No one had ever heard someone state that out loud in public before.

"Yeah," Junker explained, "a lot of the cards in my deck I saved from the dump. Every card was made with a purpose in mind, and my deck tries to put those purposes to use."

"I see," Crowler said, still in shock over the previous statement. "I think I'll end my turn and see what you mean."

"Alright, here goes!" The garbage card duelist drew his card. "Now, I think it's time for history to repeat itself. I summon Phantom of Chaos."

Appearing next to Fortress Warrior was for lack of a better description, a swirling cloud of back wisps. (ATK: 0)

"How exactly will that monster help in your current situation." Crowler asked intrigued.

"Simple," the young duelist stated as a card slid out of his Graveyard. "By removing Turbo Booster from play, my Phantom of Chaos can assume his identity."

The black wisps swirled and combined, taking the form of a black version of the robot Junker had summoned during his last turn.

"And with him like this, like I say," Junker continued, "it's time for history to repeat itself. Fortress Warrior, attack the Ancient Gear Golem."

The helipad-carrying warrior leapt onto the platforms of the imitator.

"I don't get it," Mokuba said confused by the scene. "What's he doing?"

"I think I can find dat card in da card catalog," Vinnie said as he started messing with his I-phone.

"Don't bother, Vinnie," Noah told him. "I'm already accessing the Industrial Illusions database. I should have results shortly."

"How . . . " Vinnie started, but then he remembered their earlier conversion. "Oh, right, you's a walkin' computer."

Noah stared at the black-colored monster intently as his motion whirled. In seconds, his eyes widened.

"Phantom of Chaos doesn't just copy the removed card's name, but the monster's Attack, Defense and Effect as well."

"I know it's only been a couple a turns, but what's dat card's effect again?" Vinnie asked.

"When sacrificed," Jethro explained, "it destroys an opponent's monster that battled one of Junker's monster's this turn."

"So that's what he meant," Mokuba said as it sunk in. "It may have a different monster, but the combos the same with the exact same outcome."

Just as the young Kaiba said this, the platforms launched themselves off of Phantom of Chaos's new form, propelling Fortress Warrior forward, as the shape-shifter shattered with enough force to rip the Golem's head off upon contact. As the helipad-carrying warrior returned to Junker's field, the now headless machine collapsed as shattered like glass. Crowler couldn't help but stare at the sight he just saw.

"Take makes two, Doc!" Junker shouted, getting Crowler's attention again. "Hope this proves to you that anything you set up, I can knock down. I'm gonna show everyone just what kind of potential lays within cards others dub weak and worthless." He then grabbed three cards in his hand and placed them in his Spell and Trap card area.

"I'll set these and end my turn." he finished.

"Impressive," Crowler said. "You just might have what it takes to be at Duel Academy, but the emphasis goes on might." He drew his card. "You still have a long way to go.

"Bring it on, Doc!" Junker yelled.

"Well, as they say," Crowler answered, "consider it brought. I summon Ancient Gear Soldier in Attack Mode."

Appearing next on the professor's field was a machine that looked similar to Ancient Gear Golem, but smaller and with a gatling gun replacing its right hand.

(ATK: 1300)

"Then I equip my soldier with Ancient Gear Fist."

The machine's left hand started to glow. When it faded, the hand was replaced with a large, black version.

"In response to your spell," Junker said "I activate Skill Drain."

One of his facedowns lifted to show a creature groaning in pain as smoke rose from its body. Similarly, smoke rose off of Junker's body for a couple of seconds. **(Junker: 6100)**

"With this all of our monsters effects are negated for just 1000 of my Life Points"

"Ok, I don't see where he's going with this," Mokuba said.

"Me neither," Noah added.

"Giving up so soon?" The Ancient Gear asked tauntingly. "Pity. I expected more from you. Oh, well, if you insist. Ancient Gear Soldier will now attack your monster with Ancient Gear Fist."

The machine held out its arm and its new hand launched itself with the help of a rocket booster. The equipped fist flew through the air heading straight for Fortress Warrior. Junker just smirked.

"Gotcha!" the discarded card duelist exclaimed as he pressed a button on his Duel Dick. "Reveal facedown card, Double Cyclone." The card lifted to show it was a spell card whose image depicted two cyclones, one red and one yellow, spiraling around each other. "With this card, by destroying one of my Spell or Trap cards, I can destroy one of yours. So I'm getting rid of my Skill Drain and your Ancient Gear Fist."

The card rose into the air until it was about equal distance from both targets. It then started to spin, tilting as it went until it was parallel to the line one could draw between the trap and the equip spell. The two cyclones from the card's image were then released from the spinning card, the red cyclone blowing away Junker's trap, while the swirling suction force of the yellow cyclone ripped the rocket fist to pieces. Small bits of the destroyed equipment escaped the cyclone and headed straight for Fortress Warrior, harmlessly pelting its helipad.

"Looks like you just wasted another attack, Doc," Junker taunted. "Got anything else you wanna try?"

"As a matter of fact," Crowler answered. "I do. I play Future Fusion, sending to my Graveyard Ancient Gear Cannon, Ancient Gear Beast, and my third Ancient Gear Golem, and in two turns my ultimate monster will appear. That ends my turn."

"I didn't think that there was an Ancient Gear Fusion monster," Vinnie said.

"I know that I2 released a couple of them last year," Mokuba told him. "I guess Dr. Crowler received one from Pegasus."

"It doesn't matter what you set up, Doc," Junker shouted, "I'll just knock it down like the rest."

"Cocky aren't we?" Crowler scoffed.

Though not many others could see it, Junker was sweating big time.

_'Maybe I shouldn't have taken Vinnie's advice,'_ Junker thought. _'He said that talking and acting tough wild boost by confidence, but I'm really getting more nervous. Truth is, I've just been getting a lot of lucky draws. I hope my luck holds out.'_

With that thought in mind, Junker made his draw. When he saw what he drew a small grin appeared on his face.

_'Well, it's not much,'_ he thought, _'but it'll help.'_

"I summon Speed Warrior in Attack Mode."

Appearing on Junker's field was a thin man wearing light grey armor, with wheels on his feet and a mask similar to the kind worn by fighter jet pilots. He skated around the field before skidding to a stop by the helipad-carrying figure. (ATK: 900)

"Now Speed Warrior's effect comes into play," Junker explained, "as when he is summoned, his Attack Points double for that turn."

With that comment, Speed Warrior started to glow with a blueish aura.

(ATK: 1800)

"Speed Warrior, take out Ancient Gear Soldier!"

The warrior proceeded to skate down the field. Once he was close enough, he leapt into the air and delivered a kick to the robot. He was carried with enough momentum to crash through the robot and cause it to collapse. **(Crowler: 7500)**

"I end my turn," Junker said as a facedown appeared on his field. Right after he said those words, Speed Warrior lost the aura he had. (SW ATK: 900)

"Well, it looks as if you've finally drawn blood, Mr. Sanchez," commented the Duel Academy Professor as he drew, "but you still have a long way to go."

"Check the scoreboard, Doc," Junker retorted, "you're only ahead by 1400, and I'm gonna close the gap."

"We shall see about that," Crowler replied, he then looked at the card he drew. "Perhaps I can lend you a hand? I play Spellbook Inside the Pot. Now we both draw 3 cards."

They did so.

"Now to exploit your slight mistake," Crowler said as he looked over his hand. "With your Speed Warrior still in Attack Mode, I now have a way to damage your Life Points, but first, I think I'll set the stage. I play Ancient Gear Castle."

Appearing behind Crowler was what looked like an old medieval castle with a few gears sticking out of it, armed to the brim with weapons.

"While my castle is active, all of my Ancient Gear Monsters gain 300 Attack Points. Now I play my Geartown Field Spell."

The whole of the arena changed to look like a city made entirely out of gears.

"This will lower the summoning cost for my Ancient Gear monsters, meaning that I can summon my monsters with one less Tribute, and that further means that I can summon Ancient Gear Beast without a Tribute. Go, Ancient Gear Beast!"

As Crowler said that, a giant Saber-toothed tiger made out of the same bits of metal and gears as Crowler's other monsters appeared. (ATK: 2000-2300)

"Ancient Gear Beast, attack his Speed Warrior with Mechanized Maul!" the Ancient Gear duelist shouted.

The mechanical beast leapt across the field, and tackled the high-speed skater with enough force to shatter him. (**Junker: 5700)**

"Now before I end my turn, I'm using Monster Reincarnation," the spell appeared on his field. "With this, I'll exchange one card in my hand with one in my Graveyard." Crowler took a card in his hand, and slid it into his Graveyard just as another card flopped out. He held it up so that Junker could see it. "So now you'll have to deal with my Golem once again, when the time is right. For now, though I'll just end it there."

"Right then," Junker said as he drew. He looked over his hand carefully and a plan started to form. "Hate to say it, Doc, but I have a way to take out your Golem once you bring it out."

"I'd like to see you try," Crowler commented.

"Then watch my smoke," Junker told him. "First I play Cost Down, discarding my Cyber-Tech Alligator to lower the amount of Tributes needed for a Tribute Summon. This means that now I can bring out Sword Hunter by offering only Fortress Warrior."

After playing the Spell Card, he slid a card into his Graveyard. Then the helipad-Carrying Warrior burst into pixels that then reformed into an armor-wearing warrior who had bladed weapons of different sizes strapped to his armor. (ATK: 2450)

"Now I'll sacrifice Sword Hunter to Special Summon my Turret Warrior!"

The multiple-blade-wielding warrior then shattered and its pixels reformed into a bipedal figure made of concrete and cinderblocks with cannon turrets on its shoulders.

(ATK: 1200)

"You do realize that you would have had a better chance with your Sword Hunter, your only decent monster against my monsters, don't you?" Crowler asked as he looked over Junker's monster.

"Actually, Turret Warrior is the better monster," Junker told him, "because when I Special Summon him by Sacrificing a Warrior-type monster, Turret Warrior gains that warriors ATK, and I mean every last point of it."

Sword Hunter's spirit appeared in front of Turret Warrior and was then absorbed by the concrete construction. (ATK: 1200-3650)

"Woah!" Vinnie said, as he watched it all unfold. "That is one cool monster. Wish I had it in my deck."

"What kind of deck do you use, anyway?" Jethro asked.

Vinnie looked at his three friends quizzingly, "What? Didn't you guys see my duel?" he asked.

"I was busy with my duel," Jethro told him.

"Same here," added Noah.

Vinnie then turned to Mokuba. "And what's your excuse?" he asked him.

Mokuba started sweating. "Well, uh, I … sorta … fell asleep while waiting for Noah," Mokuba said slightly embarrassed.

"Oy, maron," Vinnie said with a roll of his eyes. "Guess you'll just have to wait till I duel at the Academy."

Back in the Duel field, Junker examined the situation.

_'Alright, so now Turret Warrior is strong enough to take on the Doc's Golem,'_ he thought, _'but what still worries me is his Ultimate Monster coming next turn.'_ He then looked at his last facedown. _'At least I have something that might help.'_

"Turret Warrior, attack Ancient Gear Beast"

The cannons on its shoulders rotated to point at the mechanical animal. The cannons then fired a volley of energy bolts that ripped the Beast to scrap metal. Crowler then danced about for a bit trying to avoid the cannon fire. **(Crowler: 6150)**

"Now I'll just set these and end my turn." Two more facedowns appeared next to the one already there, one on either side.

"I believe now is the time to end this charade," Crowler told all in the arena as he drew his card. "Because now my ultimate monster appears! Rise, Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem!"

With an explosion, a huge machine-type appeared, the upper part looking like a more elaborate version of Ancient Gear Golem with Ancient Gear fists replacing its left hand, while its lower part was like some kind of mechanical horse, making it look almost like a centaur. (ATK: 4400-4700)

Junker looked at the monstrous machine that stood behind the Academy professor. He lost his composure for a second as he took a hard gulp, but quickly regained it as he pressed two buttons on his disk.

"In response to your Summon," he said as the cards revealed themselves, "I activate Forbidden Chalice and Isolated Protector!"

Turret Warrior gained a blue aura while water appeared out of nowhere and poured over the mechanical centaur's head.

"What's he planning?" Mokuba asked.

"I'm searching for the cards in the database now," Noah told him. Binary code ran over his eyes for a few seconds. Once the code vanished from his eyes, he spoke.

"In exchange for giving a monster 400 Attack Points, Forbidden Chalice can remove that monster's effect. And Isolated Protector prevents damage from battles not involving the equipped monster, plus you can destroy it to save your equipped monster from destruction."

Jethro whistled when he heard that. "That's an impressive pair of cards he's got active there, by removing that Ultimate Golem's effect, Junker can use that last facedown, plus make sure he uses the effect of Isolated Protector."

"Lettin' him keep a monsta on the field for whatever else Crowler's got planned," Vinnie added as it sank in.

"Let's see if he can hold his ground," Mokuba finished..

"While you may be able to avoid traps and spells when my Ultimate Golem attacks," Crowler told Junker, "but my allowing that, you've given my Golem more power."

Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem gave a loud mechanical roar as it shook some water off of its body. (ATK: 4700-5100)

"But I'm afraid I'm far from done," he continued. "Because for every monster either of us Normal Summoned, my castle gained a counter, and for every counter, my castle counts as that many sacrifices, when I summon an Ancient Gear Monster. So with two counters on my castle already, take a guess as to who is coming back."

With that, the castle crumbled, and from the dust cloud rose the monster Junker destroyed twice already this duel. (ATK: 3000) (UAAG: 5100- 4800)

"Now I play another Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy my Geartown Field Spell."

A powerful wind storm whipped through the arena, completely destroying the gear made city.

"By doing this, I can Special Summon an Ancient Gear Monster from my hand, Deck, or Grave. Something like the Ancient Gear Knight in my Deck."

Many of the gears and shards of metal flew towards each other, combining in a form similar to Ancient Gear Soldier, but it had a lance for its right hand and a gear-shaped shield for its left hand. (ATK: 1800)

"Now let's see what you have planned. Ultimate Golem, attack!"

The Ultimate Golem swung its large arm, slamming its fist into the concrete construct, knocking it behind Junker, as it landed on its back, but wasn't destroyed.

"What just happened?" Crowler asked. "Your monster should be destroyed and you should have lost Life Points."

"Let me explain," the discarded-card duelist said as Turret Warrior stood back up and his last facedown lifted. "Thanks to Defense Draw, I don't take damage, and I get to draw one card." He did so, "And as for Turret Warrior not going boom," he took the Isolated Protector card from its slot on his disk, "by sending Isolated Protector to the Graveyard when the equipped monster would be destroyed, it isn't."

"Impressive," Crowler commented as he crossed his arms over his chest. "You have brought yourself another turn, but it will hardly help you. With my Ultimate Golem leading my forces, and weak monsters in your deck, you don't stand a chance."

"Let's see about that, shall we? My move!" Junker drew his card. Once he saw it, he let out a small grin. _'Looks like someone's trying to tell me something,'_ he thought.

"I play Recycled Parts," he said as he played a card showing the image of villagers taking parts from a scraped Machine King Prototype. "With this card, I can remove a Machine-type in my Graveyard from play. I can draw one card for every 1000 points in the total amount of points between its ATK and DEF."

A card popped out of his Graveyard.

"So by removing Cyber-tech Alligator, with a total point amount of 4100, I can draw two cards since half of that is 2050."

After pocketing the card, he drew his two cards. Then he noticed one of the cards he drew was Pot of Avarice.

"Here we go again," he played the card, returning Soul Tiger, Speed Warrior, Fortress Warrior, Phantom of Chaos, and Sword Hunter to his deck, shuffled, and drew two new cards, both of them drawing spells.

"And twice more, with feeling, I play Card of Burial Magic and Pot of Greed. And with these I can draw four cards, two with Pot of Greed and two with Card of Burial Magic, but with Card of Burial Magic I first have to remove three spell cards."

Pot of Avarice, Cost Down, and Recycled Parts slid out of his Graveyard, and he placed them in his pocket before drawing four times.

"Are you done yet?" the Ancient Gear duelist asked. "What is it with all the draws?"

"My dad's a retired duelist," Junker explained, "and not only did he teach me that every card has a purpose, but to use a draw card as soon as you get it, because it can lead to your big move. And I have everything I need to finish this. I'll start with Burial from a Different Dimension, returning Turbo Booster and Cyber-Tech Alligator to my Graveyard."

He took the cards from his picket and put them back in his Graveyard.

"Then I play the ritual Spell, Black Illusion Ritual."

Everyone in the arena gasped in awe when they heard the name of the card and saw it appear on his field.

"Holy …! How'd he get that card?" Mokuba asked. "Even I know that that is a really rare ritual and the monster it summons is even rarer."

"Guess he's got connections," Vinnie said. "He said his dad was a duelist, it coulda been his."

"Now I send Sonic Chick to my Graveyard," Junker said as he did so, "to fulfill the ritual requirements to bring out Relinquished."

The Ritual Spell exploded in a burst of dark energy, and when the smoke cleared a strange creature with clawed arms, a conical spire in place of legs, a circular maw, two huge protrusions that suggested wings, and a single stalk with golden eye could be seen on Junker's field. (ATK: 0)

"And that isn't the only Ritual I'm gonna perform. I now play Emblem of the Awakening."

Appearing on Junker's field this time was a symbol that looked like a Celtic knot with a three pieced Ying Yang symbol, made of red, blue, and green pieces, each with an orange gem in the center, in the middle.

"Now I offer Phantom of Chaos to summon Cú Chulainn the Awakened."

The symbol started to glow until it unleash a large amount of a bright light. The light faded to reveal a brown-hired male in caped knight's armor wielding a battle spear, on a chain around his neck was the emblem. (ATK: 500)

"Oh, dear," Crowler said as he started to worry.

"Looks like the kid's got 'em." Cody commented.

"ALRIGHT, JUNKER!" Vinnie shouted so his friend could hear him. "FINISH 'IM OFF!"

"You heard the man, Doc," Junker said with a smile. "This is where this duel ends. I now use Relinquished's effect, absorbing your Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem."

The creature's maw turned into a black hole, and the suction it created started to pull on the larger machine. Eventually, the machine started to break apart, and in time all of the pieces were swallowed up by Relinquished. (ATK: 0-4400)

"Now I remove my Normal Monster, Cyber-Tech Alligator once again, but, this time, it's to power up Cú Chulainn."

As the card popped out of his Graveyard once again, the spirit of the monster appeared before the warrior, and flew into his weapon, making it glow with power. (ATK: 500-3000)

"Now let's bring this to a close. Turret Warrior, attack Ancient Gear Golem!"

The concrete construct aimed its cannons at the giant machine and opened fire, hitting each of its key joints, causing it to collapse. **(Crowler: 5500)**

"Cú Chulainn, you're next! Attack Ancient Gear Knight!"

The warrior charged down the field and slashed the remaining machine with its charged weapon. The energy that it released in the slash erupted, blowing it to bits. Crowler ducked to try and avoid the flying debris, forgetting that it was a hologram. **(Crowler: 4300)**

Crowler stood up and dusted himself off. Then, he did something no one expected, he threw his arms out wide open, expecting and anticipating the coming attack.

"Do it!" he shouted. "Make your attack and solidify your place at the Academy!"

"It's been a fun duel, Doctor Crowler," Junker told him. "Thank you. Now, Relinquished, attack directly."

Energy started to collect in the monster's eye, and it then released it in a beam that struck the waited professor in the chest. **(Crowler: 0)**

As the holograms faded, everyone in the arena applauded and cheered.

"I must say that boy is quite amazing," Jun commented to her peers.

"Many of this year's freshmen are," Leon added. "It'll be interesting to see what happens this year."

On the field, Crowler walked up to Junker. "Congratulations, Mr. Sanchez," he said as he reached out his hand. "You fought well, I look forward to seeing you at Duel Academy."

Junker looked at the professor and smiled as he accepted the offered handshake.

**-GXNL-**

After everything was said and done, Mokuba, Noah, Jethro, Vinnie, and Junker stood outside the arena, looking at the skyline.

"Looks like we all did," Mokuba said after several minutes of silence. "We're about to make our dreams come true."

"I'll drink ta dat," Vinnie added. "It's not gonna be easy, but what in life is?"

"We all have something to prove," Junker comment, "and Duel Academy's going to be a stepping stone to doing just that."

"Speak for yourself," Noah laughed. "I'm only in this because Mokie here wanted a personal tutor, and since I'm the one with a super computer brain…"

"Now don't be like that," Jethro interrupted. "I'm sure a lot of rules have changed since when you were, uh, online, you just might learn something too."

"Yes, but still…" Noah started.

"Oh, come off it, Noah," Mokuba said, cutting him off. "Think about it, you will prove something. First, you'll prove to Seto that you've changed since that time in the virtual world, maybe. And second, you'll prove to a lot of people the machines can have a heart."

Everyone present gave Mokuba a strange look.

"Look," he explained, "I have a feeling the secret's gonna be told to at least a few other people, and with my now caring step-brother inside these circuits and metal parts, people will see the side of you only I saw before you deleted the virtual world."

"Maybe you're right," Noah admitted with a smile. "Well, I think we all better get going. Are plane for Academy Island leaves early tomorrow."

"Got that right," Vinnie said, "but I got one thing ta say first."

With that, he climbed onto the guardrail they all were leaning on.

"LOOK OUT DUEL ACADEMY!" he shouted. "HERE WE COME!

**-GXNL-**

Custom Cards

Spellbook Inside the Pot

Normal Spell

Image: Three spell books flying out of the Pot of Greed in a white mist

Both players draw 3 cards.

_(First used in Ch 33 of the Yu-Gi-Oh GX manga)_

Superior Protector

Normal Trap

Image: Energy bolts surrounding Giltia the D. Knight, who is covered in an orange aura

Equip this card to a monster you control. You take no Battle Damage, except from battles involving the equipped monster. If the equipped monster would be destroyed by battle, you can destroy this card instead.

_(First used by Yusei in episode 55 of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's)_

Card of Burial Magic

Normal Spell

Image: two spirit orbs raiseing out of an open casket

Remove from play 3 Spell Cards in your Graveyard. Draw 2 cards.

_(Used by Lotten in ep. 92 of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's)_

Recycled Parts

Normal Spell

Image: Villagers, similar to the ones in People Running About, removing pieces from a Machine King Prototype lying in a junkyard

Remove one Machine-Type monster in your Graveyard from play. Draw one card for every 1000 in half of the total sum of the ATK and the DEF of that monster. If the sum of that monster's ATK and DEF is less than 1000, draw one card for every two Levels that monster has. If the monster is Level 1, draw one card.

**Next Time on Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: The Next Legacy:**

**Chancellor Sheppard:** On behalf of all the staff, I would like to welcome all of this year's Freshman Class to Duel Academy.

**Vinnie: **Ah, Dis is da life. An island getaway where dere is no probs, no hassles, just peace. If only we didn't have to spend it in a dump.

**Noah:** At least you have people you can bond with. Mokuba and I are surrounded with snobs and bullies.

**Mokuba: **No, no, no NO!

**Noah: **What's wrong Mokie?

**Mokuba:** The Blue-Eyes cards are gone!

**Jethro:** Next Time: Moving In. Welcome to Duel Academy!. Only on **Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: The Next Legacy**.


	3. Welcome to Duel Academy

_**Thought I was dead, didn't ya? Well, sorry it took so long, but you know life and writer's block. Before we start this I want to say one thing: My friend **__**Witty Phantom-GP is writing a 5D's story and would like all the critiques he can get on it to try and make the best he can. The story in question is **__**Search of a Son**__**. I think it's good, but unfortunately he's not getting many reviews and doesn't know what he can do to improve his story, or if it's good as is. I'm asking you give my friend help. After all, I'm sure you started out like that as well. Also, to try and **__**break through the severe writer's block I had with this and other works, I started watching the original Yu-Gi-Oh! but it only lead me into an idea for rewrite the whole start to the Yu-Gi-Oh! series with the modern rules (as in what we played with in reality while they used Duelist Kingdom rules in the anime). I started a poll on my profile to get other's opinions on where I should start this rewrite in the Yugi timeline. Feel free to give me your answer in that poll**__.__** Now then, on to this episode.**_

**Yu-Gig-Oh! GX The Next Legacy**

**Episode 3:**

**Moving In. Welcome to Duel Academy!**

It had been a couple of days since the entrance exam duels, and in that time many of the new students were packing up and saying their goodbyes. Some of the students, however, didn't tell many people about making it into Duel Academy, including Mokuba. He couldn't tell anyone but the members of the staff he trusted. He especially couldn't tell Seto, as he was the reason Mokuba was trying to get into Duel Academy. During Battle City and the KC Grand Prix, Seto always had Mokuba by his side, as the vice president, and served as tournament commissioner and referee. Seto trusted him to help during the big events that Kaiba Corp held, but lately it seemed like Seto was pushing him away, keeping him away from the business end of the company. To make matters worse, Seto was about to head out to all the Kaiba Land parks worldwide to set up a special tournament that would be held in a couple of years, and instead of taking Mokuba with him, Seto was leaving his little brother at home. That wouldn't be all that bad if Mokuba was watching the company while his brother was gone, but he's not. Seto hired a guy named Sylvester Kornakoff to serve as acting president of Kaiba Corp in his absence, a job you'd think would go to Mokuba. When he confronted him about it, Seto simply told him: "You're too young yet, Mokuba. Shareholders see I left a child in charge, the stock will drop."

"But you were still a kid when you took over Kaiba Corp," Mokuba argued.

"True," Seto said, "but I had the attitude and abilities to back up my status. All you have is the fact that you're my brother. Unless you can back up your words and actions, no one will take you seriously."

**-GXNL-**

There are two modes of transportation to Academy Island, by boat or by helicopter. The modes the students used all depended on what was closer, really, the copter picked up most of the international students while the boat took the local Domino City students and those that were near a port. Mokuba and Noah used the helicopter, so that there would be less of a chance of Mokuba being recognized as Seto's brother and se he could hang out and talk with Jethro, Vinnie, and Junker. Through most of the trip, though, Mokuba had been very quiet, replaying the conversation he had with Seto before he decided to enter the Academy.

_'I'll show you, Seto,'_ he thought. _'I'll prove to you I have what it takes, one way or another.'_

"Hey, Mokie," called a voice that snapped Mokuba out of his thought. He looked over to see his 'brother' and their three friends staring at him.

"You ok?" Vinnie asked him.

"Yeah, sorry," the young Kaiba said. "I was just uh. . ."

"You were thinking about your last conversation with your brother weren't you?" asked Noah.

Mokuba just nodded.

"You mean the conversation that started this journey you're on?" Junker asked.

"Yeah," Mokuba answered, "guess I'm just worried about if I'm actually going to do it. This is a pretty big step."

"It's like that for most of us, partner," Jethro told him. "All we really need to do is give it our best."

Mokuba gave a slight smile after hearing this.

_'Maybe he's right,'_ the young Kaiba thought.

**"Attention, ladies and gentlemen,"** came the pilot's voice over the loud speaker, **"if you look out your windows, you will see below you what could be the first day of the rest of your life. The prestigious Duel Academy."**

All of the students on the helicopter crowded around the windows in their rows to get a glimpse down from their high height. The students had an excellent view of the island school.

**"Please return to you seats as we begin our descent."**

**-GXNL-**

Soon after landing, the students were escorted through the sign-in and given their school uniforms and equipment, including a Duel Disk and the Academy's version of a smart phone, and their living accommodations. Noah and Mokuba, now wearing yellow and white blazers, were seating under a tree near the main entrance of the Academy waiting for their three friends to finish up inside.

"Well, we're here," Noah said. "No turning back now. Hope you're ready for all of this."

"I'm pretty sure I am," Mokuba told him. "As long as I have you, Vinnie, Junker, and Jethro, I think I'm gonna do fairly well here. And since we're rooming together, I think the plan might work."

"So long as we don't get found out," Noah remarked.

"Don't worry," Mokuba chuckled. "I'm sure the guys will keep this quiet."

Almost as if on cue, they hear Finnie's vice shout out "Hey Guys" to them. They turned to see him, along with Junker and Jethro coming towards them. The three of them were pretty much wearing what they were in when they arrived except that they were now wearing red blazers the same style as Noah and Mokena's blazers.

"You guys are in Slier Red?" Mokena asked, surprised. "That's like the low man on the totem pole. What happened? I thought you guys did well in your duels."

"Oh, uh, we did do…good in our duels," Vinnie told him. "It was the, uh, written test we stunk at."

"Vinnie and I didn't really have much time to study," Jethro explained.

"And I tend to get a real bad case of test anxiety were it comes to big exams like that," Junker added.

All Mokuba was able to stammer was "but" a few times before Noah chimed in.

"Hey, it's okay, Mokuba. Rank can change as the years go by. It's not that big a deal."

"I guess you're right, Noah," Mokuba sighed. "Well, I guess we better settle into our dorms. They're gonna hold an exhibition match to kick the year off."

"Well, what are wes waitin' for? An engraved invite?" Vinnie asked, fairly excited. ""Let's go checkout our digs."

"According to the schedule, the match isn't until 5 o'clock," Junker said, checking his Duel Pilot. "It's three now, so let's say we meet back here at about 4:30?"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Great!" Mokuba exclaimed as he and Noah took off in one direction. "See you guys then."

"Not if we see yous first," Vinnie called back, as he, Jethro, and Junker ran in another direction. Jethro and Junker stared at Vinnie as they ran. "What?"

**-GXNL-**

Shortly after separating, Mokuba and Noah had arrived at the Ra Yellow Dormitory. For the new students there, they soaked in the energy and essence that seemed to surround them. As it sank in that they were a part of the best dorm for the average duelist, but for returning Ra's and Mokuba and Noah, they were seeing a new Ra Yellow building. It was at least three stories, looking at it from the outside, it looked like a combination of a modern college dorm and a Beverly Hills mansion.

"Whoa!" Noah exclaimed. "This is way different than the brochure showed."

"I checked the files back home before we left," Mokuba explained. "Seto finalized renovations to the Ra dorm at the beginning of the summer, and he made sure those guys in construction did their work. This whole thing was built in a month and a half."

"Ha," Noah chuckled, "he should have called Ty Pennington over in the U.S. Chances are he and his team could have done it in a week."

They both started laughing until they heard the voice over all the excitement that, even as a yell, was still cold enough to bring frost on a summer day.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I HAVE TO STAY HERE!"

"Don't tell me," Mokuba said, his voice full of dread.

"Sounds like it," Noah told him, sounding defeated.

As they came closer to the dorm, they saw three figures at the front door. One was a this middle-aged man or older with salt and pepper hair and a thin moustache; another was a teen, may be a few years older than Mokuba and Noah, who had a deep tan, well-defined muscles, dreadlocks sticking out of a bandana, and the sleeves of his blazer ripped off; but the last figure was what upset them, as they saw the pointed style of Len's hair.

"I am of a higher caliber that these pathetic excuses for duelists!" Len went on, yelling at the other two. "I deserve to be in Obelisk Blue!"

"I am tellin' you for the last time!" Hassleberry yelled, equally as loud, "This is your barracks! Now you fall in or I'll make sure you're dropped down to Slifer Red for the rest of the year!"

Len picked up his bags and huffed off.

"There always has to be one," Hassleberry whispered to the man next to him.

"Sí," the man whispered back. "We can only hope that he can, as they say, lighten up."

They soon noticed Mokuba and Noah approaching the dorm.

"¡Hola, Señores!" the man greeted them. "I am Professor Sartyr, the head of the Ra Yellow dorm, and this is Tyranno Hassleberry, your student dorm leader. Welcome to the Ra Yellow Dorm!"

"State your names, privates." Hassleberry commanded, holding up a clipboard.

"Mokie Biaka."

"Noah Abaki."

Hassleberry browsed the names on the clipboard for a bit before he found theirs. He then took a pen from the top of the board and checked off their names.

"You both are in room 214," he told them. "Grab your gear and settle in. This will be your home away from home for the year."

Mokuba and Noah grabbed their luggage, which was delivered from the helicopter or boat straight to each student's dorm. Wandering through the dorm (more like a four-star hotel), they found their dorm room. Opening the door, the opinion of the dorm being a four-star hotel seemed to solidify. Two double-sized beds sitting side by side, a small dresser with a table lamp sits between them. Along the opposite wall sat two wooden desks, one of which had a computer, and a small closet near the door.

"Man, this is nice," Noah commented. "I thought Seto only cared about the Blue dorm. He's either losing his touch or he's lightening up."

"Seto's trying to make the place more appealing to attract people," Mokuba explained. "After everything that's happened, he doesn't want to lose students to any of the other academies."

After unpacking their stuff, and deciding who sleeps where, (Noah took the bed farthest from the door, because there was an open plug near it so he can recharge his internal batteries and look like he's asleep in bed), they mostly just killed time in their room.

"Well, now what do we do?" Noah asked, lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. "We still have, what, an hour or so before we meet with the guys?"

Mokuba took off his side deck and placed it into one of his deck drawers.

"Well," he said as he closed the drawer. "I guess we could check out some more of the dorm building, or we could just meet them at their dorm."

Noah then jumped to his feet.

"May as well check out the rest of our living arrangements," he told Mokuba. "Who knows, we might even met a few more people we might let into the inner circle. But that's just a might."

"I got it," Mokuba groaned. "No one else needs to know our identities unless we know we can trust them."

Noah nodded, and with that the two of them took off out of their room and down the hall. Unfortunately, while Mokuba did close the door, he didn't close it tightly enough, and it slowly swung open until it was slightly ajar. A few doors down and across the hall, the door to room 217 opened just enough to let a single, yellow eye peer out, and also let a soft, cold chuckle be somewhat audible.

**-GXNL-**

Meanwhile, as all that was going on in the Ra dorm, Junker, Vinnie, and Jethro (in that order) came into a clearing on the far end of the island. What they saw was not what they expected to find as their dorm. The Slifer Red dormitory looked more like a seedy motel, two floors, each with one row of rooms. The place didn't really look like it belonged at the Academy.

"This is where we're gonna spend our year?" Vinnie asked. "You gotta be kiddin!"

"Well, it doesn't look too bad," Jethro said, trying to lighten Vinnie's mood. "It could use just a few homey touches."

"A few? It looks like one of the no-tell motels back in my neighborhood." Vinnie ranted. "They should just scrap it and start over."

"I wonder where everyone is," Junker quickly said, changing the subject.

"After putting all the stuff in their rooms," said an unknown voice, "they went off to explore the island."

The threesome looked to the top level of the dorm and saw three people about their age standing out on the balcony. One was a guy of African-American decent whose hair was in tight cornrows, wearing tattered, faded blue jeans. The boy to his right was the shortest of the three with light brown hair cut short and in the regular Academy uniform. On the other side stood a guy with blonde hair, some of which covered his right eye. He was also wearing the standard uniform of a Slifer Red.

"You can call me Timber," said the one in the center of the trio. "That's Randall to my left and Zeke on my other side."

"I'm Vinnie, and this is Junker, and Jethro is the tall guy with the hat."

The three Slifer's walked down a set of wooden steps that led to the level they were on and the boys in front of the building.

"So," Timber went on, "What room are you guys in?"

"We don't know," Junker said. "No one's told us yet."

"It's in your Pilot," Randall told them, "in your welcome e-mail."

The three of them pulled out their Duel Pilots and pressed a few buttons before arriving at their Academy e-mail inbox. Within the only message in that inbox, they found what they were looking for, and at almost the exact same time, they said:

"205"

They looked at each other with the same thought in their minds.

"How can we all be in the same room?"

"Hey, you guys are our new neighbors," Timber said. "Come on, we'll show you around our home away from home."

Timber went on to describe the dorm building as the six of them climbed the steps.

"Girls stay in the dorms on the ground floor, dudes stay up here. When we gather for breakfast and dinner we met in that little building on the side that looks like a tool shed. You eat lunch when you have the time whenever you like. Fair warning, you shouldn't really expect to get much respect from the other dorms here, you're the low man on the totem pole."

"You sure know a lot about dis place, Timber," Vinnie commented.

"I should," Timber told him. "This is my sophomore year. This is your room."

Timber opened the door and let the trio enter. What they saw was, again, not what they expected. The room was rather small with one desk, one small closet, and a three-tier bunkbed. It looked like the cross between the average college dorm and a cheap motel room. Their bags were lying on the floor.

"What a dump," Vinnie complained.

"Welcome to Slifer Red," Randall told them.

"I don't know," Junker stated. "It kinda reminds me of the orphanage."

"If you guys need anything," Timber said, "we're just next door."

With that, he, Randall, and Zeke left Jethro, Vinnie, and Junker to try and get comfortable.

"Well, who sleeps where?" Vinnie asked, after closing the door.

"You two can fight over it," Jethro stated as he pulled a rolled-up sleeping bag out of his laundry sack, which he also used as his suitcase. "I'm fine with just stretching out on the floor."

"You don't have to do that," Junker started.

"Believe me, it's fine," the cowboy told them. "I'd rather sleep on the ground anyway. I don't think I' really fit in one of those beds."

Vinnie and Junker looked at each other.

"I'll take the bottom," Junker said.

"Then, I guess I'll take the top." Vinnie sighed.

They placed their bags on the middle bunk, grabbed their individual keys to the dorm, and left to check out the area.

**-GXNL-**

_Back at the Yellow Dorm . . ._

Mokuba and Noah had practically checked out every inch of the building and, at the moment, were in the dining area, taking in the wonderful smells coming from the kitchen. (Before you ask, Noah has sensors that replicate the sense of smell and taste. He can also fake it when he has to.)

"This place is amazing!" Mokuba exclaimed. "A guy could probably live here, set for the rest of his life!"

"I don't think that even your mansion can compare to this," Noah commented.

"Yeah," Mokuba agreed. "No offense to the staff back home, but I think the food here might be better; at least based on the smell."

Noah looked at his watch.

"Oh, Geez!" he shouted, "Mokie, we better hurry. We gotta met the guys back at the main entrance in a few minutes."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Mokuba said as he started to run out of the room. "Let's get g. . OOF!"

Mokuba fell on his back after running into what felt like a brick wall. He looked up to see he wasn't that far off. Standing in front of him was a very obese male standing at about six foot even, with greasy hair tied in a small pony tail. Beside him was an incredibly tall male of about the same height, wearing wire-frame glasses and a greasy mullet. The two of them both wore tattered blue jeans, combat boots, and their Ra Yellow blazers open.

"Watch where you're going, twerp!" the heavier one snapped as he walked right over Mokuba.

"Yeah," the thinner one laughed, with a rather annoying voice, "watch it, twerp!" as he did the same.

Noah stared at the two of them as they came towards him.

"What are you looking at, weirdo?" the fat one sharply asked, pushing Noah. The thin one again echoed and mirrored his partner as they walked out the other way.

"Are you okay?" a female voice asked, Mokuba looked up to see a pretty girl wearing a girl's version of the standard Ra blazer and a navy blue skirt that reached down to midcalf. Her hair was a deep, dark red and came down to her chin.

The girl reached down and helped Mokuba back to his feet.

"Yeah, I'm fine," the young Kaiba told her as his "brother" walked up to the two of them. "Who were those guys?"

"Archibald Bullkire and Sydney Skoolivick," said Hassleberry as he walked into the dining area. "For all intents and purposes, they should be Obelisk juniors, but they were held back and flunked out. Their only way back into the Academy was as Ra Freshman this time."

"Why doesn't the Academy just label them lost causes and expel them?" Noah asked.

"They probably would if it weren't for the fact that their families supply a lot for the Academy and have Seto Kaiba on speed dial."

Mokuba knew what Hassleberry meant and knew it wasn't true. Seto wanted to have the Academy expel them, but knew that if that happened the Bullkire and Skoolivick families would bring out a lawsuit against Kaiba Corp. that Seto didn't want to deal with.

"Maybe I can help them with their classes," the red head said. "No one should be left behind, not even those creeps."

"Ill-advised, private," Hassleberry told her. "No offense, but I think they'd rather try and get ya in their bunks then learn from ya."

"Still, I think I should try," the female Ra said.

"Honestly," Hassleberry continued, "you'd be better off not bothering yourself with them. Now if y'all want to see the opening duel, ya better hussle."

"He's right," Noah yelped, as he checked his watch again. "C'mon, we gotta hurry."

Noah then took off out of the dining hall, but Mokuba lingered for just a little longer, talking to the girl who helped him.

"Uh, thanks for helping me up earlier," he stammered.

"Trust me," she told him, "it's no problem. I'm Astrid Jorgenson."

"I'm . . . " he started.

"MOKIE! COME ON! LET'S GO!"

Mokuba cringed, hearing his brother yell for him was kind of embarrassing.

"Brother?" Astrid asked.

"You could say that," the young Kaiba told her.

"Go on," she told him. "It's not like we won't see each other again."

"Ha, yeah," Mokuba chuckled. "Guess I'll see you later."

They exchanged one last gaze and a wave before Mokuba disappeared down the hall.

**-GXNL-**

While that was going on . . .

Junker, Vinnie, and Jethro were currently wandering around the forest that occupied part of the island.

"Man," Vinnie commented, "dis place has everything."

"I know," Junker added, "it even has its own ecosystem."

"Yep," Jethro agreed, "I think we're gonna like it here." He then looked up to the sky. "I think it's about time we head to the main building. Looks like it might almost be time for the duel."

"OK, den," Vinnie said excitedly. Then he realized something. "Does anyone know where the Academy is?"

That was when they realized that they were lost.

"Heh, good thing we decided to follow you guys."

The boys looked to see Randall, Timber, and Zeke behind them.

"I know my way around this island," Timber told them. "Follow us. The Academy building is this way."

The group followed Timber and his friends along one of the trails and after about a minute or two, started to see the domed roofs of the main building rising out of the trees. Another two minutes later, and they found themselves at the front walk just as Mokuba and Noah ran up the walk to them.

"Hey, guys," Mokuba called as they came up to them.

"Hey," Junker said back. "You guys ready for this?"

"Oh, yeah!" Noah exclaimed. "Let's go!"

The eight students ran into the building and through the halls until they arrived at the arena. Wandering around the stands, which were already packed full of excited duelists to-be, they finally found some seats, which happened to be a complete row of seats right in front.

"By the way, I don't think we've been introduced yet. I'm Mokie, and this is Noah."

"I'm Timber. This is Zeke."

"And I'm Randall."

"Pleased to meet all of you," Mokuba said as Dr. Crowler walked out to the middle of the duel field that sat in the center of the arena.

"Attention students," he said into a microphone he was holding, "before we begin the duel and introduce the competitors, I would like to present the head of this Academy, Chancellor Sheppard, who will now say a few words."

All eyes turned to a section in the stands that looked to be were the members of the faculty sat. Among them, one man stood up. He wore a maroon overcoat that was of the same style as the Academy's uniform blazers, under which was a light yellow dress shirt and a plain brown tie. The man himself appeared to be middle-aged and bald, except for salt-and-pepper eyebrows and a Van Dyke beard of the same coloring.

"On behalf of all the staff," the chancellor said in a microphone, "I would like to welcome all of this year's Freshman Class to Duel Academy and welcome back all of returning students."

Cheer erupted from the audience. The chancellor held up his hand, and everyone quieted down.

"Despite all the craziness that has happened here in the past four years, we hope that every single one of your will enjoy your time here. Duel Academy was build to breed the duelist of tomorrow by bettering their skills in the fundamentals and teaching how to utilize new strategies in the game of Duel Monsters as it grows. I have received word from the head of Industrial Illusions, Mr. Maximillion Pegasus, that his card designers are hard at work developing a new Monster Type, and a new type of Monster Card. Based upon early information he has given us, your classes will include lessons on these new cards to prepare you. And speaking of preparation, we also strive to better prepare you for life in general."

The chancellor then went on to tell all the students the mission statement of the school, and many of the students began to tune him out. Mokuba turned to one of three people he saw run out of the forest with Jethro, Vinnie, and Junker. He saw Zeke looking at him. Mokuba gave Zeke a friendly wave, but Zeke quickly ducked behind Timber, who was sitting neat to him.

Mokuba leaned towards Randall.

"Is he ok?" he asked.

"Yeah, he's just really shy," Randall told him. "Timber and I are trying to get him to open up and trust us, but it's going slow. At least the year is just starting, so we have time to bond with him."

"Oh. Well I willing to help," Mokuba told him. He then looked at Timber, who was sitting next to Randall. "By the way, Timber, how did you get your name?"

"Well, my real name is Timothy Bergmen, but the reason for Timber is really a funny story," said Timber. "See, when I was in grade school, I was bullied by this older kid who I swear was really in high school. He was practically six foot with a goatee. Anyway, I was in the fifth grade and I saw him picking on this little girl in the grade under me. Now if he was picking on me, I'd have let it go; but to pick on a young girl, that warranted a response. So I marched right up to him, looked in the eye, and hit him straight on the jaw. I kid you not, that one hit cause him to fall flat on his back. Seeing that happen, I just couldn't resist shouting out 'Timber.' From then on, the name sort of stuck."

"Wait," Jethro, who was sitting between Randall and Mokuba, "How old was this kid?"

"I don't know," Timber answered him, "maybe a couple of years older than me."

"And he was six-foot-tall with a goatee?"

"When you were that age and about my height back then, almost anything was six feet taller than you."

"Will you guys keep it down?" Noah asked them sharply. "Some of us are actually listening to the Chancellor speak."

"Sorry, Noah," Mokuba apologized. He and the others returned their attention to Sheppard.

"But you all didn't come here to hear me go on and on did you?" the Chancellor asked. "No, you came to see a duel, right?"

The crowd roared in answer, on pins and needles to see the action start.

"Dr. Crowler, take it away."

"Alright, young scholars," Crowler started, "Are you ready for a duel?"

Once again the crowd roared in excitement.

"Then let's meet today's duelists," the professor went on. "First, an Obelisk Blue Senior, a top-notch scholar, the great deck examiner, Cody Winchester"

The watched as the duelist walked into the arena from one of the ground level hallways. He was a boy with short brown hair and glasses, wearing the typical Obelisk blue blazer with black pants and canvas shoes.

"And his opponent, also from Obelisk Blue! One of the top ranked duelists in his class. The Card Commando, Leon Taylor."

Entering the arena from the other end was a boy with spiky, read hair, wearing a sleeveless Oblelisk blue blazer opened to reveal a black and blood red stripped shirt underneath it, a silver bullet on a silver chain around h is neck, black army boots, black cut-off gloves, and dark blue jeans held up by a black leather belt.

"Alright, gentlemen, come center and shuffle each other's deck."

The two duelists approached the center of the field. Once they were face to face, they handed each other their deck and proceeded to shuffle the deck they now held.

"What do you say we give them a good show, Leon?" Cody suggested.

Leon nodded and handed Cody back his deck while taking his own from Cody. Both duelists returned to their respective ends of the field.

"No tricks this time," Leon joked.

"Hey," Cody laughed, "I swore off the Weevil Gambit sophomore year. This is legit."

"Duelists, are you ready?" Crowler asked.

Both Leon and Cody activated their Duel Disks and placed their decks in the holder as a response.

"Then begin," the professor shouted as he ran off the field, not wanting to get caught in any crossfire.

"Let's Duel!" Leon and Cody yelled together, drawing their first five cards.

**(Leon: 8000) – (Cody: 8000)**

"I'll take the first turn," Cody stated as he drew card number six. Cody looked over his hand and slightly smirked.

"Here we go," Cody continued. "Time to start the analysis. I set one monster facedown along with one other card."

Two cards appeared on the glasses-wearing duelist's field, backs up, one with the long sides facing each duelist, one with the short sides.

"Next, I'll play my Stumbling Spell Card."

A spell card appeared on his field, showing the art work of a creature on its hands and knees trying to walk across a field covered in bones and skulls.

"And finally, welcome to my parlor, the Spider Web Field Spell."

A giant spider web then appeared under the duelists' feet, over the field. Several other large webs descended from the ceiling, attaching to the one on the floor, trapping the two inside.

"That's all for now, Leon. Let's see what you've got."

"I'll gladly show you," Leon said as he drew. He looked over his hand.

_'Ok,'_ he thought, _'Cody's already started on his stall tactics, ready to try and read my deck. I think I'll let him try, but maybe I can use it to my advantage.'_

"I summon Brave Warrior Immortal in Attack Mode," he declared.

The monster that appeared on his field was a warrior wearing purple stripped pants and an arrange shirt. For armor, he wore leather arm guards and a leather corset with over lapping bronze scales. The warrior wielded a small type of battle-axe and a wicker shield. (ATK: 1400)

"Guess you weren't paying attention," Cody joked. "My Stumbling Spell Card now activates, forcing your monster to Defense Mode."

With that, the warrior went down on one knee, raising his shield to be ready for on coming attacks. (DEF: 1700)

"Now, I'll set this and end by turn," Leon added as a facedown card appeared behind the defensive warrior.

"My move!" Cody shouted, drawing his card. "I'll start by flipping my Petit Moth face-up."

The card flipped to show its artwork and from it appeared a large caterpillar. The Stumbling Spell Card glowed again, causing the caterpillar to curl up. (DEF: 200)

"Now, I'll equip Petit Moth with the Cocoon of Evolution."

The caterpillar lifted its head and started to spray a fountain of some kind of stringy substance that blanketed it and a bit of the field station. The covered insect then started to glow, instantly becoming a large cocoon that was anchored to the ground by dozens of thick strands of the strings it sprayed. (DEF: 2000)

"Cocoon of Evolution?" questioned Noah. "You don't see that card much any more."

"For a good reason," Vinnie said. "It's hard to do anything with it without the right cards in your hand."

"Now I activate my face down Jar of Greed," Cody continued, as his Trap lifted. He drew a card from his deck. When he saw it, he smiled.

"Alright, now we can get things moving. I now sacrifice my Petit Moth equipped with the Cocoon of Evolution to Special Summon Larva of Moth in Defense Mode."

The cocoon started to glow, but when it subsided, nothing changed. (DEF: 2000)

A few cries came from the audience.

"What was that?!" "That was anticlimactic!" "Nothing happened!"

"I gotta admit," Leon said, "I'm confused, too."

"All I'll say is that all well be revealed in a few turns. For now, I'll summon my Prickle Fairy and end my turn," Cody told him, as he also set a card facedown.

Soon after placing the card on his disk, a female monster with green skin and blonde hair appeared on his field. She wore a dress that looked to be made out of green leaves and flower petals. Instead of arms, she had long, thorn-covered vines coming out of the sleeves of her dress, which she crossed in front of her as she took a knee. (DEF: 2000)

Leon said nothing as he drew, he was deep in thought.

_'I'm guessing that Larva of Moth Card is one of those new cards he said he got over the summer. Better build up my forces.'_

"I summon Brave Warrior Resistance in Attack Mode," he then said, placing a card on his disk. Appearing on his field soon after was a man in a camo jacket, green pants, and black boots. He had black gloves over his hands and a black ski mask over his face with a black beret on top of his head. He was holding a semi-automatic as he went down to one knee. (DEF: 1500)

"Now I'll activate Resistance's Special ability," Leon went on. "By playing 500 Life Points, I can draw one card, and if it's a 'Brave Warrior' Monster, I can Special Summon it to my field."

As his Life Points dropped a little, Leon reached for his deck and pulled the top card off of it. **(Leon: 7500)**

Looking at the card, Leon smirked a little. It wasn't what he was looking for, but it'll help.

"Through Resistance's effect, I Special Summon Brave Warrior Rajput."

A new warrior appeared on his field. This one was wearing silk robes and leather boots. On his head was an iron helmet with a nose guard, under which lay a veil of chainmail that concealed his face. He was armed with a round, steel shield with a rounded red cross design in one hand and katar in the other. The warrior then went to one knee, holding his shield at the ready. (DEF: 700)

"I end my turn."

Cody drew his next card.

"I end my turn," he then said, not even looking at the card.

"Dis looks like it's gonna take awhile," Vinnie said as he tried to get comfortable. "Hey Timber, you're a sophomore, right? What can you tell us about dose two?"

"Well," Timber started, "Cody is the smartest of the seniors. Some would say he's too smart. He uses a lot of stall tactics to make his opponent show him their weakness and then works to exploit that weakness. But if you ask me, Leon has no weakness. He always fights on towards victory no matter what, and his Warrior-Types mimic that. They swarm the field to overwhelm the opponent. This will be a long duel and a clash of styles."

"I wonder why they pitted those two against each other," Noah said.

"Probably to show us that strong duelists are not just powerful with their cards, but patient with their strategy," Jethro suggested. "One thing I learned is the one who waits for the opening and takes it, can win it."

"Guess we'll just have to see what happens," Mokuba said as Leon drew his next card.

_'Not much he could have done I suppose,'_ Leon thought as he looked over his hand. _'Not much I can do either. Odds are if I try to use Resistance's effect again, I'll just waste the payment. I'd better wait him out.'_

"I set one card facedown," he then declared, as the facedown appeared, "and end my turn."

Once again, Cody drew and immediately ended his turn, which brought out some boos from the audience.

In the section where the Academy's faculty was seated, Crowler flinched at the sound.

"My word," he commented. "If this duel keeps going as it is, I fear we may have a riot on our hands."

"Not to worry, Crowler," Chancellor Sheppard reassured the frantic teacher. "Based on what has happened so far, I'm willing to bet one of them is about to make their move."

Leon drew his next card, but paused when he saw the card that was under it. He noticed that it was slightly more worn than his other cards.

_'Are you really going to appear this early?'_ he asked himself, as if talking to the card.

After looking at the card he drew and the cards in his hand, he made a decision.

"I summon Brave Warrior Musketeer."

Appearing on Leon's field when he played the card was a man dressed in an outfit similar to what one would see on a French musketeer in the movies. In his hands was a flintlock musket and holstered on his belt was a rapier. He took a knee, laying his musket close to his side. (DEF: 900)

"Now, I'll use Resistance's effect again."

His Life Points dipped as he took the faded card from the top of his deck. Seeing the new card, Leon couldn't help but smirk. **(Leon: 7000)**

_'Well, I suppose you would appear now,'_ he thought.

"I now Special Summon the rival to my best monster, Brave Warrior Samurai."

Soon after playing the card, a warrior in full, traditional samurai armor speared in Leon's last open monster zone, his sword sheathed at his side. He knelt down on both knees, biding his time. (DEF: 2500)

Noah stared at the monster that was just summoned, scanning it and running it through the card data base. Once he found the card, he skimmed through its stats.

"Wow," he stated, impressed. "That warrior has 2800 ATK. If he can get his monsters into attack mode, he can lead the charge to deal some serious damage."

"Now I activate my facedown, Zero Gravity," Leon then stated.

His facedown rose up and started to glow, making all of his monsters and Cody's Prickle Fairy stand up and prepare for battle. (Larva of Moth: 0) (Prickle Fairy: 300)

(Samurai: 2800) (Resistance:1800) (Musketeer: 800) (Immortal: 1400) (Rajput: 1000)

"This might be the move we were waiting," Norman stated, earning a nod from the Chancellor

"Now, I'll have my Samurai lead the charge and attack your Prickle Fairy," Leon went on.

The samurai drew his Katana and charged at the plant.

"Why Prickle Fairy?" Mokuba asked. "Wouldn't he cause more damage by attacking that Larva of Moth?"

"Not really," Noah told him. "Mathematically no matter who attacks who when, Cody's gonna lose at least 7500 points unless that Trap stops it."

"As for why he's attacking Prickle Fairy," Timber added, "that's all he can attack. While Prickle Fairy is face-up on the field, any Insects that are with her are protected. Meaning she needs to go before Leon can take out that cocoon before it hatches."

Back on the field, the Samurai was about in striking distance of the plant lady, who was preparing to retaliate with her thorn-covered vines.

"Nice plan, Leon, but I was ready for that," Cody quipped as his facedown lifted. "Go, Defender's Mind."

His trap glowed and Prickle Fairy went back to her defensive stance she and Larva of Moth were enveloped in a golden glow. (LOM DEF: 4000) (PF DEF: 4000)

"Not only does my Trap put my monsters back into Defense mode, but it also doubles their Defense Points."

As Samurai drew closer, he swung his Katana, raking it across the now stronger tentacles of Prickle Fairy, causing a shower of sparks before she wrapped him in them and threw him back to Leon's field. The Samurai landed on his front with a thud, but managed to pull himself to a kneeling position, using his sword for support as he caught his breath. (DEF: 2500) **(Leon: 5800)**

"And due to your Prickle Fairy's effect, Samurai goes on the defensive." Leon added. "Clever, you knew I'd be prepared for your style of play."

"I suspected it, anyway," Cody told him. "This is, after all, our 41st duel. I had assumed that you would have tried to counter my defensive strategy starting with Duel 10."

"I actually didn't start preparing to counter your Defense Reader strategy until Duel 25, because I wanted to try and beat you with my own power. But when you had the lead 17-7, I knew I had to be ready. Lucky for you I never managed to draw them in time. You still lead 25-15, but now I'm going to catch up."

"We'll see about that," Cody said with a grin. "You done?"

"Not yet," Leon told him. "I still have Musketeer's attack, and thanks to his ability, he can attack you directly."

The musketeer brought his firearm to his shoulder, took aim, and fired. Cody grabbed his left shoulder, wincing in pain as if a bullet had grazed it. **(Cody: 7200)**

Shortly after firing, strands of webbing shot up from the field and wrapped around Musketeer, forcing him to his knees. (DEF: 900)

"I end my turn there."

_'So he's using that old move,'_ Cody mentally told himself. _'Since Musketeer can attack directly, even in Defense Mode, it's a good way to slip through my defenses. Unfortunately for him, I have something that can shut that down.'_

He drew his card, seeing it was Ultimate Insect LV1, he looked at his hand and saw it had Javelin Beetle and Ultimate Insect LV7.

_'Unfortunately for me, I don't have it yet. So I'm just gonna have to take it for now.'_

"I end my turn." He said. "And I should warn you, it's been three turns since I brought out Larva of Moth. In a few more turns, you're gonna get a big surprise."

_'I don't like the sound of that,'_ Leon thought as he drew. _'I better find a way to take it out before that happens. Until then …'_

"I'll have Musketeer take another shot at you," he said, "which he can still do in Defense Mode."

Musketeer broke free of the webbing holding him, to aim with his gun, and once more hit Cody in the shoulder. **(Cody: 6400)**

Leon then, silently moved Rajput Resistance and Immortal to Defense Mode and signaled the end of his turn.

Cody drew his card. When he saw what it was, he just rolled his eyes.

_'Convinent,'_ he thought as he played the Pot of Greed he had drawn and drew two new cards.

Seeing his new cards, he smiled a little bit. _'And effective.'_

He slid the card facedown into his disk and it appeared on his field as he signaled the end of his turn.

"Still going to wait it out, huh?" Leon asked. "Fine by me. I'll just keep chipping away at your Life Points. Musketeer, take aim."

The warrior once more raised his gun.

"Not this time," Cody told him as his facedown lifted. "I activate my Lair Wire."

Leon's eyes widened slightly.

'_Should have seen that coming,'_ he thought as a card slipped out of Cody's Graveyard.

"By removing an Insect-Type in my Graveyard, like my Cocoon of Evolution, from play; I can destroy your Musketeer."

Once again, the webbing began to move and wrap around Musketeer. This time, however, the webbing started to tighten and squeeze the life out of the warrior until it shattered to pixels.

"Heh, guess I walked into that one," Leon said. "Not much else I can do, so I'll end my turn."

_'Geez, Leon,'_ Cody said to himself, _'I know we agreed to make this interesting for the froshies, but you don't need to ham it up so much.'_

He drew his next card and the cocoon then started to glow.

"Time for the next stage of this evolution," Cody announced, as the audience watched in awe. "After being on the field for five turns, Larva of Moth now becomes Pupa of Moth."

The glowing died down to show the cocoon had become a pseudo-clear chrysalis with something inside. The chrysalis shook, showing what was inside to be alive.

(DEF: 2000)

"That's not a whole lot different!" someone in the audience shouted out.

"Oh, but it is," Cody explained. "You see, in its prior stage, Larva of Moth, I would have only gotten the second stage Larvae Moth if it was destroyed. Now as Pupa of Moth, I am one step away from obtaining the Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth; but if the pupa is broken prematurely, I gain the immature Great Moth. Either way, now I'll have a strong monster on my field by my next turn. For now, I'll end this one."

Leon silently drew his next card and started to play his move.

_'So that's his new plan,'_ he thought. _'Unfortunately for him, I have what I need to possibly stop it now.'_

"I play Mystical Space Typhoon," he then said as he placed the card on the Duel Disk. "With this, I'll destroy your Defender's Mind."

Instantly, a small whirlwind erupted around Cody's face-up trap and blew it away, sending skyward and out of sight.

"Next, I tribute Brave Warrior Rajput to Summon Brave Warrior Yakuza."

The armored warrior dissolved into particles of light and a new warrior took its place. This one was Asian, maybe Japanese, and dressed in a suit and armed with a pair of nunchuks. He swung his weapons around a few times before taking a defensive stance. (DEF: 1800)

"Next, I'll use my Double Summon Spell Card to bring out Brave Warrior Shaolin."

The spell card he named appeared on his field and from it calmly walked a Shaolin monk who assumed a prayerful position. (DEF: 1500)

"Now I'll use Order to Charge, tributing my Immortal to destroy your Prickle Fairy."

As he slid the card into a slot, the first monster Leon had summoned became covered in a red aura as he charged shield-first at Cody's Plant Fairy. As the warrior drew closer, Prickle Fairy whipped at him with her tentacles, but it was of no effect as the warrior slammed into her and both monsters exploded into pixels.

"Now Samurai, prepare for battle," Leon commanded as his designated warrior stood up and re-drew his sword.

"Don't forget, Leon," Cody warned, "you attack and destroy my Pupa, the Great Moth will be freed."

"True," Leon noted, "but that card'll be weaker than its full form. So it's a risk worth taking."

With that, the Samurai charged at the "sealed" monster and with one slash broke open the shell that surrounded the monster. As the warrior returned to Leon a new monster rose from the shards and fragments of its former home. It was a giant green-yellow moth with beautifully colored wings. (DEF: 2500)

"Now I'll set one card facedown," Leon continued as the back of another card appeared on his field, "and then use Resistance's effect once more."

His Life Points dipped once more as he drew the top card of his deck and looked at it. **(Leon: 5300)**

"I now call Brave Warrior Knight to fill the vacant spot."

As he placed the card on his disk, what truly was a knight appeared on his field wearing plate armor and a visored helmet. Over his armor was a white tunic with a red cross on it. In one hand he held an elaborately decorated shield, and in the other was a broadsword. He kneeled down with his shield held high and ready. (DEF: 1500)

"With this, I end my turn."

"Guess it's time I start making mine," Cody told his friend as he drew.

'_Ok,_' he then thought, '_I guess now would be as good a time as any to go the offensive, and I think I have just the cards to do it._'

"I now remove Larva of Moth and Pupa of Moth from play."

The cards slide out of the Graveyard Slot on his Duel Disk and their holographic forms appeared behind him.

"By doing this," he continued as the holograms dissolved to particles of light, I can now bring my Doom Dozer."

With a rumble, a creature crashed out of the ground in front of Cody, revealing itself to be a centipede-like creature with a black shell on its back and a red underbelly. It snapped its mandibles as it looked as Leon monsters hungrily, lowering its body to show only its shell. (DEF: 2600)

"Next," Cody he went on, placing another card in a Spell & Trap Zone, "I play my Javelin Beetle Pact."

He took 2 cards from his hand and inserted them into his Graveyard.

"By using the Level 1 and Level 7 forms of my Ultimate Insect as offerings, I can now Ritual Summon my Javelin Beetle."

A pillar of light burst out of the ground in front of him, and from it emerged a bipedal insectiod with a blue exoskeleton serving as armor with only small amount of green-colored soft tissue showing. In one of its hand, if you could call it that, was a brown staff tipped with a four-pronged, possibly golden blade. Each prong looked like insect mandibles. The monster lowered itself to one knee, holding its staff in both hands in front of it to protect it. (DEF: 2550)

'_Guess Cody's tired of waiting around,_' Leon thought as he pressed a button on his disk while his Opponent's Great Moth took flight. (ATK: 2600)

"Now Great Moth," Cody began, "take out his…"

"Hold on, Cody," Leon called out, "I'm afraid you can't attack me yet."

Cody calmed down a little and smirked.

"Outnumbered Forces?" he asked.

"Outnumbered Forces," Leon told him, as his Trap Card, which had lifted during they talking started to glow, causing Cody's Monster to lose interest in battling.

"I don't get it," Mokuba said as he witnessed this. "What Outnumbered Forces do, and why is Cody so calm about it?"

"Outnumbered Forces is a Trap that skipped the Opponent's Battle Phase when you have more monsters than they do," Noah explained, having searched for the card already. "What's more, I'm guessing, is Cody is so calm because they've dueled so much; and they know each others game play pretty well, so he must have known it was coming."

"Oh," Mokuba said, as he watched Cody set his last card facedown on his field. He leaned a little closer to his "step-brother". "These two just might give Yugi and Seto a run for their money, don't you think?"

"It's possible," Noah whispered back, "but unlikely."

"Your move, Leon," Cody told his opponent.

"Here we go!" Leon exclaimed as he drew.

"First, I'll switch my Samurai to Attack Mode once more and attack."

Leon's katana-wielding stood, and charged down the field, only to hit an invisible barrier with his weapon.

"Sorry, Leon," Cody quipped, as his facedown revealed itself to be Negate Attack. "You'll have to do better than that."

"Oh, I will, next time," Leon told his friend. "For now, I'm done."

Cody drew his card without a word.

"I think we both need a little refresh," Cody said, as he slid a card into a Spell and Trap Card Zone on his Disk, which appeared as Card of Sanctity. "So, I think I'll lend you a little hand in order to help myself."

Both drew cards until they each held 6.

Up in the stands, Mokuba begin to remember many of the duels his watch his brother and Yugi have.

'_Card of Sanctity may be a double-edged sword, giving your opponent new options,_' he thought; "_but sometimes it's proven to be just what's needed to get the win. I remember one time, Seto got the last two Blue-Eyes and a Polymerization thank to Card of Sanctity. Maybe I should think about adding a couple more draw engines. Was that what Noah called? Sounds about right.'_

"Hey, Mokie," Noah said, bringing the young Kaiba back to Earth. "Pay attention, you might have to duel these guys at some point."

"Right," Mokuba said, turning back to the duel as Javelin Beetle and Doom Dozer took offensive stances (JB: 2450) (DD: 2800), "Sorry."

"Now, I play Stop Defense. Switching your Knight into Attack Mode," Cody called out, as the medieval warrior stood with his sword at the ready. (ATK: 1500)

"Next, I play Blind Spot Strike, adding the defensive power of your Yakuza to my Great Moth."

With that a red aura enveloped the well-dressed man on Leon field, causing him to cringe in pain, it then flew off of him and was absorbed by the giant moth on Cody's field. (ATK: 4100)

"Now it's time you face the swarm!" the Insect duelist exclaimed. "Javelin Beetle, destroy his knight!"

The bipedal insect positioned its spear as its wings unfolded from its back. Within seconds, the monster hovered about an inch or two above the ground and flew at high-speed to the knight. The sharp points of the spear combined with the speed pieced right through the knight's armor, destroying him as the insect whipped past Leon to return its spot, kneeling when it landed. **(Leon: 4350)** (DEF: 2550)

"Doom Dozer, attack his Resistance!"

The giant centipede lunged from its spot ready to bite down on its prey, when a shot rang out through the arena and Doom Dozer recoil, screeching in pain.

"What da heck just happened?" Vinnie asked in shock.

Hearing the question, Leon smiled and pointed in the tunnel he first entered from. The video screens flashed to show another Brave Warrior Resistance, this one armed with a sniper rifle, was hiding in there.

"Resistance never travels alone," Leon explained. "So once per turn, he partner saves him from destruction."

"Heh, forgot that part," Cody laughed, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.

"You still did damage," Leon explained, "so it was a good idea." **(Leon: 3350)**

The giant centipede coiled defensively once again, growling angrily at Leon. (DEF: 2600)

"No matter," Cody said, brushing it off, "I still have Great Moth. And he's about to blow your samurai away."

Using that as its cue, Great Moth started to flap its wings faster; causing a harsh wind to blow across the field. Flakes of pollen could be seen flying in the wind. When the samurai was able to stand with the strong winds, he started to choke after inhaling some of the pollen. In a matter of seconds, it was enough to cause him to burst into pixels. The wind was enough, though, to knock Leon off his feet. **(Leon: 2150)**

"I end my turn," Cody declared as his moth landed. (DEF: 2500)

Leon stood back up and dusted himself off as he returned to his spot on the field.

"Nice move there, Cody," Leon said as he drew. "But now it's time for me to go on the offensive."

He then slid a card into a Spell and Trap Zone on his Disk.

"And to start, I'm using Back to Square One to take care of your Great Moth. Just one card from my hand, and it goes to your Deck"

After Leon slid a card into his Graveyard, the giant moth began to glow with a golden light and transformed into a beam that flew into Cody's deck.

"Next, I'm gonna clear the air with Heavy Storm."

With second, a high-speed wind began to swirl through the arena, blowing away many of Cody's cards in the process as well as the strands of the spider web. Then, as quickly as it started, it stopped.

"So, you looking to end this?" Cody asked with a sly smile.

"Better believe I am," Leon told him. "But first, I need to set things up on my side."

He grabbed a couple cards in his hand and held them up.

"I should thank you," he went on. "Just like you thought, your Card of Sanctity set me up. I now play my Banner of Courage and the Battlefield Field Spell."

Suddenly, the arena transformed into an area that was half grassy plain and half desert. As the digital effect spread Leon could see a large medieval castle appear behind Cody, while Cody saw an ancient city in the distance behind Leon. Off to one side, both could see a jungle or forest of some kind and a more modern city and to the other was a coastline with clear blue water splashing onto the shore. Then pole rose out of the ground behind Leon and a banner unfurled from its tip, showing its unique design.

"Banner of Courage will give my monsters 200 more Attack Points during the Battle Phase," Leon explained, "and that's on top of the 200 Point boost coming from my Battlefield."

Now standing in familiar surrounding, Leon three monsters seemed more at ease, and yet they seemed more ready for battle. (BWRe: 2000) (BWSh: 2200) (BWY: 2300)

"Now, I tribute Shaolin for my Brave Warrior Officer, and move Yakuza and Resistance to Attack Mode."

As the two gun-wielding warriors stood, the monk dissolved into particles of light and in his place appeared a warrior dressed in full SWAT gears armed with a high-powered machine gun. (ATK: 2500-2700)

"Now, final piece of this turn, the Card Rotator Spell."

As Leon played the Spell and slid a card into his Graveyard, strings shot out of nowhere and pulled Javelin Beetle and Doom Dozer into battle stances before disappearing.

"Now that the time is right, it is time for battle. Officer, attack Doom Dozer!"

The SWAT member raised his gun, and took aim and a blue aura surrounded him. (ATK: 2900) HE then unloaded his magazine into the giant centipede. Doom Dozer screeched loudly in pain before collapsing to the ground, exploding into pixels. **(Cody: 6300)**

"Now, Yakuza, take out the Javelin Beetle."

The Asian man ran down the field to the bipedal insect, a look of determination in his eyes. (ATK: 2500) The Insect tried to attack him with its weapon, but Yakuza dodged with ease. He then wrapped his nunchuks around it and pulled it from Javelin Beetle's grip. He then got behind the bipedal insect and stabbed it with his sai. As the monster yowled in pain; Yakuza kicked out its knees, forcing him to the ground, and flipped over it before delivering the final kick to the top of its head, causing it to burst into pixels. **(Cody: 6250)**

"Now, Resistance, attack Cody directly."

Resistance took aim and fired a barrage of bullets from his gun, making Cody dance around trying to dodge them, until the magazine was empty. Cody tried to catch his breath as he watched his Life Points drop. **(Cody: 4050)**

"That ends my turn, Cody. Let's see if you can overcome my army."

"I just warmed up, Leon," Cody retorted as he drew his next card, and looked to see Insect Costume, Pinch Hopper, Remote Revenge, Insect Armor with Laser Cannon, and Great Moth in his hand. "And now I'm gonna turn up the heat. I summon Pinch Hopper."

A large green grasshopper appeared on Cody's now empty field, chirping loudly (ATK: 1000)

"Then, I use my Insect Costume Spell Card."

The card appeared on his field showing three insects in an ascending line.

"This card gets a little confusing, so listen close. First, I send 1 Insect-type monster in my hand to the Graveyard."

He took the Great Moth from his hand and slid it into his Graveyard.

"Then, I add 1 Insect-Type from my Deck to my hand."

A card popped out of his deck and he took it.

"Then finally, I have to destroy 1 Insect on my field. So Pinch Hopper will have to go before we can see him in action."

With that, the grasshopper shattered.

"But now, I can use Hopper's effect, Special Summoning 1 Insect in my hand to the field. So here comes my Millennium Scorpion."

Taking Pinch Hopper's place was a large, almost cartoony, scorpion with an Egyptian-style eye on its back and a red mouth with large teeth. (ATK: 2000)

"Then, I equip my Scorpion with the Insect Armor with Laser Cannon, giving 700 more Attack Points."

Pieces of armor began to appear on the scorpion's body with a large cannon turret attached to its back as the insect roared loudly. (ATK: 2700)

"Millennium Scorpion, give his Yakuza a taste of your new power."

The scorpion lowered itself as the cannon to aim at the suited warrior. Suddenly, a blast of energy fired out of the cannon and blew Yakuza to atoms. The force of the blast knocked Leon onto his back once again. **(Leon: 1750)**

"Now that it has taken out one of your troops, my scorpion gains 500 ATK, making even harder for you to destroy."

Leon pushed himself back to his feet once more to see his opponent's monster grow in size as it roared. (ATK: 3200)

"But now's you chance to try. I end my turn."

"You know what they say," Leon quipped as he drew. "The bigger they are the harder they fall. And thank to this, he will fall."

"What do you…" Cody started, but stopped as he looked at the field again. "Oops."

"'Oops' is right, Cody," Leon told him. "You forgot about my Officer's effect."

Leon the lone card in his hand and slid it into his Graveyard.

"By discarding one card from my hand, Officer gives up his attack to destroy 1 monster on the field."

A strange device appeared in front of the SWAT team member, who pulled a small device from a pocket on his vest.

"Go, Taser Shockwave!"

Officer pushed a button on his handheld device and dozens of wires shot out of the device in front of him. These wires attached themselves to the giant insect, and it started to convulse as if it was being electrocuted before finally exploding into pixels.

"Now, hit him directly Resistance!"

The masked warrior took a device from his belt and tossed it over to Cody side, where it bounced around before stopping at his feet.

"Oh, I hate it when this happens," Cody moaned. "Why does he have to use the Nail Bomb?"

Resistance then took a controller from a pocket on his jacket and pushed a button, caused the bomb to explode right at Cody's feet. The smoke cleared to show him being quite disheveled and very annoyed. **(Cody: 1850)**

"I'm done," Leon said. "It's your turn."

Cody drew his next card. It was Hercules Beetle.

'_Neither of these will do me any good,'_ he thought.

With that thought, he put the two cards he had on top of his deck and place his hand over his Deck.

"Like you said back on duel 32," Cody said as Leon watched him confused, "a good soldier knows when to fight, and when to surrender. That time is now for me."

The holograms began to fade away as the duel ended.

"Guess that makes to record 25-16. Good game, Leon."

"You too, Cody," Leon said to his friend as they met in the middle of the field and shook hands to the applause of the students watching. The Chancellor stood up as the quieted down.

"I would like to thank Cody and Leon for not only giving us a very suspenseful duel, but for showing us the finer points of sportsmanship. A duelist should never be ashamed to admit when they have lost. Whether it is with taking the next attack, or surrendering, a duelist should never let their pride get the better of them and blind them into doing something foolish. This concludes our welcoming ceremony. You are free to roam the island that will be considered your home for this academic year. At about 7:30 PM, your dorm-heads will be have a welcoming dinner so you can introduce yourself to your fellow classmates and dormmates. We hope you have a wonderful experience here at Duel Academy. Enjoy your day, and be ready because classes start at 8 AM tomorrow."

Students began to file out of the arena. Mokuba and the gang hang back for a bit to talk.

"So, while we got the time," Timber said, as he and the gang stood up and started to walk out, "Why don't you tell us about yourself Mokie."

"Not much to tell, really," Mokuba told him, sweating a little. "I'm just your average guy coming to Duel Academy to better his skills."

"Same for me," Noah added. "We just met on the way into the arena for the test duels and sorta became fast friends."

"I see," Timber said, raising his left eyebrow slightly. "Well, boys, what do you say we head back to the dorm for a little R and R before dinner?"

"Fine with me," Randall said while Zeke just nodded slightly.

The three boys began to separate from the group before the stopped and looked back.

"You Reds coming?" Timber asked.

"We'll meet you guys back at the dorm," Junker told him.

Without another word, Timber and his friends walked away. Meanwhile, the five friends kept walking together.

"Boy, if dat's just da senior class, I wonder what our class is like," Vinnie said to his friends.

"That's the first big question," said Jethro. "The next one is 'how will we stack up?'"

"I'm sure you guys will do fine," Mokuba told them. "It's me I'm really worried about. My deck is not the best."

"But that one of the reasons you brought Noah along, right?" Jethro asked. "So he could help you with that and hard classes."

"Heck," Junker threw in, "I bet we could help each other out on all that and more."

"That's true," Noah said. "Though, I still feel like I'm little more than a cheat sheet for you Mokie."

"Come on," Mokuba told him. "You heard the Chancellor. Pegasus is coming out with a new Monster type and new Monster card, so you could benefit from a little update to your memory banks."

"Maybe so," Noah agreed halfhearted, "but still, I can't help but worry we're gonna get caught. What'll happen to us then?"

"We'll worry about it when the time comes Noah."

"Mokie, I don't think your brother would approve of you taking on the attitude of Joey Wheeler."

Mokuba just nervously laughed.

"Maybe Noah's got the right idea here," Jethro suggested. "After all, you did technically falsify your information on your applications. You could get kicked out of here like that one guy on the reality show some time ago."

"Hey, yeah," said Vinnie, "I remember dat guy. What was his name? Jemimah?"

"Guys, calm down," Junker told them. "I think Mokie's got the right idea. Look at you guys. You're all so nervous; you could attract the wrong attention and blow the whole thing. Let's just take this a day at a time."

Jethro, Noah, and Vinnie all sighed, knowing Junker had some sense to what he said.

"You're right," Noah told him. "Guess I'm just stuck looking at all the factors and possibilities like any supercomputer should."

"What about me and Jethro?" Vinnie asked. "We shoulda known better."

"Come on," Mokuba said, bringing his friends out of their funk. "Let's go back to our dorms and get ready for dinner."

With that, the friends ran off, but above them, on a staircase leading to the upper floors, Len stared down at them.

"Oh, you have quite a lot to be worried about Mokuba Kaiba," he said to himself." Thanks to you, I have a biggest scoop at Duel Academy that will end up being the end of the Kaiba Corporation. And these little beauties will make sure of it."

-**GXNL**-

At the Ra Yellow Dorm's dinning hall, all the students were gathers and seated at long tables. Many of them were talking to each other, introducing themselves to each other. Noah and Mokuba sat at the edge of one of the tables, keeping to themselves.

"So, here you guys are," said a female voice. The two "brothers" looked up to Astrid walk up to them. "Mind if I join you two?"

"Uh…sure," Mokuba replied.

"Shouldn't you be with the other upperclassmen?" Noah asked, giving a kind of look that said he'd rather be alone with Mokuba.

"I would if I was one," Astrid explained. "I'm a freshmen just like you guys."

"Really?" Mokuba asked.

"Yeah," she continued. "Do I look older than that?"

"No, not at all," Mokuba said, "I guess my friend Noah just got the wrong signal from seeing you with that Hassleberry guy."

"Oh, him," Astrid laughed. "I only just met him when I met you guys."

"Attention students!" said a male voice over a speaker system, breaking up the little conversations that previously filled the dinning hall. The students turned to see three people standing on a small, makeshift stage that was set up at the far wall. Many people recognized two of them as the two who first welcomed them to the Ra Dorm, Professor Sartyr and Tyranno Hassleberry; but they did not know the third person. That person was a female with dark skin and mahogany hair. She stood next to Hassleberry wearing a black belly shirt, white jeans, and brown boots along with similar female version of the jacket Sartyr was wearing. She stood there, looking over the students quite seriously.

"For those of you who have not had the pleasure, I am Professor Sartyr, the head professor of the Ra Yellow. Behind me is the new associate professor, Mackenzie Epperson; and the student dorm leader, Ra Yellow senior Tyranno Hassleberry."

He motioned to the two behind him as a light applause filled the room.

"I hope you all are looking forward to a year full of good times. Know that we only want the best that you can do, and we are willing to help you reach your full potential. I'll turn it to my associate, Professor Epperson."

The female walked up to the older professor and took the microphone from him.

"Thank you, Professor," she said. "I'm interested in seeing what each and every one of you is capable of, especially all of you first-years. This'll be my first time at Duel Academy, just like it is with you, so what do you say we work together and make this year the best we can."

The crowd of students began to applaud again. Some even threw in a few cheers.

"Mr. Hassleberry," Professor Epperson said to the student dorm leader, "Do you have any words for them?"

Tyranno nodded and walked up to the professor, who handed him the microphone. He walked to the edge of the stage and spoke loudly and firmly into the mic.

"Listen up," he told the other Ras. "If you even have the slightest idea of stepping out of line, you'll have to deal with me before you have to worry about the professors. I'll make sure y'all follow in formation. You stay on my good side and maybe you just might make it through this year. Do I make myself clear?"

Everyone was silent, not knowing what to do or say to that speech.

"I said, DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!" the senior Ra shouted, causing some feedback to come through the speakers.

"Yes, sir!" Several students loudly answered.

The male professor ran up to Hassleberry and took the microphone from him.

"Uh, thank you, Señor Hassleberry," he said. "And now if you'll raise your glasses, por favor."

All the students did, along with the professors.

"Here's to a new year, and a good year!" the older professor proclaimed.

All the students agreed, many of them clinking glasses with each other. Meanwhile, on the stage, with the microphone now off, Professor Sartyr approached the Ra Senior.

"Was all that really necessary, Señor Hassleberry?" he asked.

"They got to know who's in charge," Hassleberry told the professor, "or else they'll walk all over ya."

"He has a point," Professor Epperson told her co-chair. "Even so, that might have been a little too forceful. Your tone with them reminds me of Viper."

"Professor Epperson," Hassleberry said with a slight cringe, "Could you not mention that vile sidewinder again? That low down snake almost lost me my best friend with what he done."

"I understand your anger, Sergeant," Professor Epperson told him. "No one of West Academy knew what he was up too, yet we've found evidence he's been doing the same thing he did here at West Academy since he was first hired. Not quite at the same levels, mind you; but still it's significant. If he hadn't have come here and raised his machines levels to extract the massive amounts of energy he had, I don't think anyone would have realized what he had done until his retirement."

"Let's not think about then," Professor Sartyr told them. "Like I said, it's a new year. Time to forget the past and look to the future."

'_Yea, and what ever darkness is looming over that horizon,_' Hassleberry thought.

Meanwhile, towards the back of the hall, Astrid, Mokuba, and Noah were having their own conversation.

"So," Astrid said, "Tell me about yourselves."

"Not much really to tell," Mokuba told her, blushing. "We both just grew up in Domino City. Got inspired by Yugi and Seto, and decided to become duelist ourselves."

"So what's your story?" Noah asked, trying to sound interested.

"I'm the eldest child in a family of seven with a single mom," Astrid explained, really catching Mokuba's attention. "For a long time, I had to help mom take care of everyone. I even learned first-aid at age twelve to be ready for anything. Mom pulled a lot of double shifts and Graveyard shifts in order to help us get by, and eventually set enough aside to put me into Duel Academy."

"Why didn't your father help out around the house, or bring in the paycheck?" Noah asked.

Astrid's face fell a little.

"Because my dad passed away when I was eight, leaving mom with four kids, and my deadbeat step-dad walked out five years ago leaving three additional kids, including one from his 'previous marriage,'" she explained.

"Wow," was all Mokuba could mutter.

"Yeah," Astrid continued. "While mom worked, I basically took care of everyone. She pulled together as much as she could, put it together with willing donations of allowance from my sibs, and decided I should go chase my dreams."

"Intriguing story," Noah said, still uninterested.

"You'll have to forgive my friend," Mokuba said, after shooting his "brother" a dirty look. "He has a tendency to act coldly to new people."

"It's fine, really," Astrid said. "I'm honestly a little sick of the sympathy I got from the previous times I told that story."

"Uh, how can you be sick of sympathy?" Mokuba asked.

"When that all you seem to get out of people," she explained. "Only from a couple of people have I not seen the 'I'm so sorry' look in their eyes and hear a similar tone in their voice. That all I seem to get from most people. Yes, it's a sad story, but it doesn't absolute define me."

_'I think I know where she's coming from,'_ Mokuba thought.

-**GXNL**-

Meanwhile, at the Slifer Dorm, the student there were settling in to their own welcome party; but this one was different from the Ra Dorm's, or the kinds held in previous years for that matter. Rather than cheap, tv-dinner-ish meals that were either overcooked or undercooked, this time the students were enjoying a cook-out with a build your own hot dog and hamburger buffet.

"Got to say, this is nice," Jethro said, as he squeezed a little barbeque sauce onto his hot dogs and then reached for the chili sauce.

"Yeah, real step up from the living conditions," Vinnie said, as he put what looked like pickles on his cheeseburger.

"Things might just turn out alright here," Junker added, placing a handful of chips on his plate.

"Alright, everyone," said a male voice, "Settle down and please take your seats."

All the Slifer students sat down around small picnic tables into the little dining area set up at the dorm. They all looked towards a small kitchenette in the back of room where Leon and another man were standing, nibbling on their food as the man spoke.

"For those who don't know me," he said, "I'm Norman Plains. I'll be teaching Basic Deck Construction and Strategy, and I'm the new head of your dorm, Slifer Red."

"Yeah, go bottom of the barrel reds," said a voice sarcastically, bringing out a few laughs from the students.

"Alright, who's the wise guy," Norman said calmly. A young student stood up at a table in the far back. His hair was almost neon-yellow and covered the shoulders of his red blazer. His green eyes stared across the room to the professor, as if looking down on him. "What's your name, son."

"I'm Oswald Cooperman, I'm not your son, and I'm not supposed to be here," the boy said gruffly.

"What do you mean?" Norman asked. "You're wearing the colors for this dorm."

"But I don't deserve to be in this dorm," Oswald said, more gruffly and even sounding a little frustrated. "I won my duel. I did well on the test. I deserve to be an Obelisk or at least a Ra."

"You'll have to take that up with Admissions tomorrow," Norman told him. "For now just sit down and enjoy yourself. Get to know some people."

Oswald just huffed and sat down silently.

"Nice guy," Vinnie whispered. Jethro and Junker both agreed with him.

"In any case," Norman went on, "I know things don't the best around here, but rest assured I'm gonna with Chancellor Sheppard and possibly the school's owner, Seto Kaiba, in giving this dorm a much needed facelift. I think this place has been the same since I was here."

"You sayin' you was a Slifer?" Vinnie asked aloud.

"Indeed I was," Norman said. "I started in the same place you guys are now and worked my way up the ladder. Became a top-notch pro duelist, and now I'm spreading what I know to in-training rookies like you guys."

This brought out a few murmurs from the Slifers.

"Geez," Vinnie whispered to this friends, "dis guy could just be good for us, boys. An actual pro that started bottom of the barrel like us. Now I'll be able to tell dis guy knows what his talkin' about."

"As opposed to some of your other teachers, I presume?" Junker asked.

"Hey, in the real world, books and manuals slow ya down," Vinnie explained. "You've got to have gone through the motions, life the life, played the game if you want my attention. Only one guy's ever been able to teach me."

He put his hand on his deck holster, remembering.

"Maybe this guy can help Mokuba with his deck," Jethro said. "Lord knows he might need it."

"Yeah, for sure," Vinnie said, coming back to reality.

"Now more on me later," Norman went on. "For now, let's meet your Student Dorm Advisor, Leon Taylor."

Leon took a couple of steps forward.

"Don't be intimidated by me being an Obelisk," Leon told the Slifers. "I'm just here serving in this position because there were no Slifers qualified for the position at the time; mainly because the majority of last year's Slifers were freshmen, and the only one who was qualified graduated last year. But who knows, next maybe one of you will be the Student Dorm Advisor for Slifer. I'm here if any of you need to talk for whatever reason, and you can't talk to Professor Plains. I understand that there are times when a student needs to confide in another student rather than a teacher."

"As do I," Norman added. "Now introduce yourselves to each other, enjoy the burgers and hot dogs, and let's have ourselves a great year."

With that the Slifers went back to their personal conversations.

"We oughta talk to Professor Plains and see if he can give Mokuba some help with his deck," Jethro said to Vinnie and Junker.

"It's worth a shot," Junker said, with Vinnie agreeing.

"Mind if we join you guys?" asked a voice.

Looking up, the three friends saw Timber, Randall, and Zeke standing by there table.

"Plenty of room," Jethro told them as they sat down.

"So you guys thinking you'll be able to fit in," Randall asked them.

"Seems like we'll be right at home," Junker told him.

"Long as that punk Oswald doesn't try something stupid," Vinnie, shooting a slight glare in the direction of the student he meant.

"What do you know about him, Timber?" Jethro asked.

"Nothing really," he answered.

"He a freshman," Leon said as he approached their table. "He tested into Ra, but it's overcrowded as it is, so he was bumped to Slifer."

"Ooh, got the shaft," Vinnie said with a wince. "No wonda he's a bit pissed."

"Yeah," Leon went on. "I might have to keep an eye on him."

-**GXNL**-

After eating dinner, and meeting a few others in their dorm, the boys headed back up to their room.

"Ya know," Vinnie said as they entered, "dis place just might grow on me. At least I got a couple a guys to hang with here so I don't lose my mind."

"Oh, I'm sure you would have been ok without us," Junker said as he started to change into the night clothes that were left for them.

"I kinda doubt dat," Vinnie told him. "I may have spent time on the city streets, but even the places dere were slightly classier dan dis."

"Sometimes you can't pick and choose, Vinnie," Jethro said as he unrolled his sleeping bag. "Sometimes you got to go where life takes you."

"Maybe so, cowboy," Vinnie said, "but I'd give anything to hear the sounds of city traffic lull me to sleep."

"I've been told I snore like a freight train rumbling by," Junker told his friend. "It's not the same, but it might be close enough for you."

"Heh, thanks for the warning," Vinnie said with a slight laugh.

-**GXNL**-

Back at the Ra dorm, Mokuba and Noah were back in their room, settling in for the night.

"I don't know, Mokie," Noah said to his 'brother' as he watched him dig through the desk in their room, "I don't entirely trust her yet. I may have been forced to trust guys, but at least they seem decent."

"Just give her a little time, Noah," Mokuba said. "A place as big as Duel Academy with some of the people here, it might better if we had more allies and friends than enemies. I definitely think Astrid's someone we can…"

Mokuba stopped short when he realized something terrible. He jaw dropped and his ends filled with fear as he started to tear the drawers out of the desk and flinging their contents to the ground.

"No. No. No! NO!" he screamed.

"Mokie, calm down," Noah said as he jumped to his feet. "What's wrong?"

"They're gone!" Mokuba yelled. "The Blue-Eyes! Kaibaman! Paladin! Ultimate Dragon! They're all missing! I put them in this desk before we left for the duel and now they're gone!"

"Calm down, Mokuba," Noah told him, getting almost as frantic as he was. "Just calm down. Let's think about this. We haven't been approached for having counterfeit cards yet, so whoever has them might not have turned them in. Which means they may be wanted to hold them and our identities over our heads for some reason or another. Which we should be getting a call…"

Noah was interrupted as Mokuba's Duel Pilot started to beep, signaling a new message was in his inbox. The young Kaiba pulled out his device and accessed the message, which was a video recording from someone they did not want to see.

"I trust by now you've found out that these are missing," said the recorded voice of Len Daotao as he held up the cards. "You certainly are the scoop of the century, Mokuba Kaiba. I wonder if your dear older brother knows you are here. Well, he soon will if he reads the headlines in the next edition of father's paper. Or course, there is another option. If you want your cards back and this story silenced, then come to the docks at midnight exactly. I'll have a boat waiting to take you and your robotic brother back to Domino City. You get to keep your little secret, but I then will get one favor from you. Should you be even a half a minute late, I'll send this story to every paper in existence and defame the name of Kaiba for your little attempt to go around our brother's back. I'll be waiting for your response. Ta."

Noah and Mokuba just looked at each other with fear in both of their eyes.

**To Be Continued…**

**Custom Cards**

Insect Armor with Laser Cannon

Equip Spell

Image: a set of armor with a cannon attached to it

An Insect-Type monster equipped with this card gains 700 ATK.

_This is an OCG only Promo card_

Defender's Mind

Cont. Trap

Image: Big Shield Gardna, Mid Shield Gardna, and Total Defense Shogun staning close together, their shields glowing

Change all face-up monsters you control to Defense Position. Double the DEF of all face-up Defense Position monsters you control. You cannot change these monsters to Attack Position. You can only control 1 face-up "Defender's Mind".

_Used by a Sector Security officer in episode 31 of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. Effect changed to be similar to video game counterpart._

Insect Costume

Normal Spell

Image: Great Moth, Girochin Kuwagata, and Queen Butterfly Danaus hovering over one another, in that order.

Send 1 Insect-Type monster from your hand to the Graveyard. Add 1 Insect-Type monster from your Deck to your hand. Then, destroy 1 Insect-Type monster you control.

_Used by Lenny in episode 2 of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's_

Larva of Moth

Level: 2

EARTH

Insect/Effect

This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card cannot be Special Summoned except by Tributing 1 "Petit Moth" equipped with "Cocoon of Evolution". This card cannot declare an attack. During your 5th Standby Phase after this card was Summoned in face-up Defense Position, send it to the Graveyard to Special Summon 1 "Pupa of Moth" from your hand or Deck. When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, you can Special Summon 1 "Larvae Moth" from your hand or Deck, ignoring the Summoning conditions.

ATK: 0 DEF: 2000

Pupa of Moth

Level: 2

EARTH

Insect/Effect

This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card cannot be Special Summoned except with "Larva of Moth". This card cannot declare an attack. If this face-up card is in Defense Position during your Standby Phase, you can send it to the Graveyard to Special Summon 1 "Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth" from your hand or Deck, ignoring the Summoning conditions. When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, you can Special Summon 1 "Great Moth" from your hand or Deck, ignoring the Summoning conditions.

ATK: 0 DEF: 2000

_The above two cards can be found in the Playstation2 game __Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist of the Roses__. Creative Credit goes to the game designers._

Brave Warrior Immortal  
Level: 4

Earth

Warrior

Text:_ A member of the ancient world's special forces, trained from the age of five to do nothing but kill and destroy other soldiers._

ATK: 1400 DEF: 1700

(based on the Persian Immortal, as shown on _Deadliest Warrior_)

Brave Warrior Resistance

Level: 4

Earth

Warrior/Effect  
EFFECT: Once per turn, if this card would be destroyed in battle, it is not. Once per turn, you can pay 500 Life Points, you can draw 1 card from your deck. If the card you drew was a Brave Warrior, you can Special Summon it to the field.

ATK: 1800 DEF: 1500

(based on the I.R.A., as shown on _Deadliest Warrior_)

Brave Warrior Rajput  
Level: 3

Earth

Warrior

Text: _A __menacing __martial arts__master, who defeated enemies with a diabolical arsenal designed to kill._

ATK: 1000 DEF: 700

(based on the Rajput Warrior, as shown on _Deadliest Warrior_)

Brave Warrior Musketeer  
Level: 3

Earth

Warrior/Effect

This card can attack your Opponent's Life Points directly. This card can attack while in Defense Position (apply this cards ATK if you attack while in Defense Position)

ATK: 800 DEF: 900

(based on the Musketeer, as shown on _Deadliest Warrior_)

Brave Warrior Samurai  
Level: 7

Earth

Warrior

Text: _Among the pantheon of warriors, Brave Warrior Samurai is surely the greatest._ ATK: 2800 DEF: 2500

(based on the Samurai, as shown on _Deadliest Warrior_)

Brave Warrior Yakuza  
Level: 5

Earth

Warrior

Text: _Yakuza is no ordinary criminal; he and his brethren apply the code of "jingi" (justice and duty) where loyalty and respect are a way of life._

ATK: 2100 DEF: 1800

(based on the Yakuza, as shown on _Deadliest Warrior_)

Brave Warrior Shaolin  
Level: 4

Earth

Warrior/Effect

The controller of this card cannot declare an attack with this card. Reduce all Battle Damage to your Opponent's Life Points from battles involving this card to 0.

ATK: 2000 DEF: 1500

(based on the Shaolin Monk, as shown on _Deadliest Warrior_)

Brave Warrior Knight  
Level: 4

Earth

Warrior/Effect  
If the opponent attacks a facedown monster, it is automatically destroyed without applying battle damage.

ATK: 1500 DEF: 1500

(based on the Knight, as shown on _Deadliest Warrior_)

Brave Warrior Officer  
Level: 6

Earth

Warrior/Effect

Once per turn, by discarding 1 card from your hand, you can destroy 1 face-up monster on your opponent's side of the field. (You cannot attack with this card the turn you use this effect.)

ATK: 2500 DEF: 1900  
(based on the S.W.A.T team, as shown on Deadliest Warrior)

Battlefield

Field Spell  
Image: An open plain with a desert to one side, a forest to the other, and a city of some sort in the distance.

Increase the ATK and DEF of all Brave Warrior monsters by 200 points.

_The above cards were created by black-cat-9288, used with his permission_

Outnumbered Forces

Trap Card

Image: A small band of rebels shaking in fear at the sight of a large, approaching army of knights.

Activate during your Opponent's Main Phase 1 when you control more monsters than they do, skip your Opponent's Battle Phase this turn.

**Next Time on ****YuGiOh! GX: The Next Legacy**

**Mokuba:** What are we going to do, Noah? Len knows.

**Noah:** Yeah. Of all the people who could just stumble onto our secret, why him? Don't worry, Mokuba, I'll try to figure something out.

**Len:** Your time is running out, Kaiba. What will you do?

**Noah:** Next Time: The Blackmailed Duel. The Daotao Heir vs. The True Kaiba. Len, I'm not letting you control my brother.

_**Well, that took a while, but if I had stuck with plan A (two duels in 1 chapter), it would have been even longer. Thanks to **__**black-cat-9288 for the use of his OC, Leon. Also making cameo appearances are **__**Mackenzie Epperson from **__**Faith Princeton and **__**Randall Summers from The Duelist of Dawn. Before anyone asks, unfortunately auditions for OCs are currently closed. It leaked out that I would be looking for some before I had the chance to even talk about it. In any case, if you do have characters, keep them on hand, I might be looking for some one-shot characters for different sections in the story, as I get closer to those sections, I'll talk more about them. Please let your reviews, it helps a writer know if he's doing a good job. Till next time. (Hopefully not a long time)**_


End file.
